Naruto the Ghost Stalker
by NPCrusader
Summary: At an early age Naruto is rescued from a mob and is taken under the wing of a mysterious shinobi to be trained in arts unknown to the other nations. Soon Naruto will master all the skills needed to be a formidable ninja, as well as unique deadly powers to accomplish any of his objectives. When he dons the role of the "Ghost Stalker", evil will now have a reason to fear the dark!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: This is fanfiction dot net, if that doesn't tell you that anything here is based on others' work for non-profit entertainment then I'm sorry for you.**

_**AN**__: This is a story which will have content about God (in a different name) and M-rated material, but before we get to the story I want to make it clear to anyone who might take offense that I don't believe God would make alternate universes. Even if He did I don't think they would be that different from ours. That said I think it is fun to theorize and come up with what ifs, but these are entirely from my imagination and anything depicted in this story is not to be taken as something God would do etc._

**Naruto The Ghost Stalker**

Prologue

At some point in time, in another universe, there was a planet much like Earth. There are many differences as you can imagine, one of the most visible is the fact the continents and countries are shaped in an entirely different way. The continents on our planet were once a big one that later broke apart to form Earth as we have it today, that's basically what it is here. There are some large island clusters scattered across the planet which in some areas are dense enough to form mini-nations, mostly of the republic government type.

However, the distinguishing feature of this world is not just geographical. While it has human beings, the ones here have are born with the potential to use something unique to them. The ability to use super-human strength and supernatural powers. This is all thanks to something called Chakra, which is something of a mix of spiritual and willpower energy in our own terms. Chakra exists in their bodies as if it was a parallel bloodstream and is equally important as the red fluid in their veins in order to live. By tapping into this Chakra network, as they call it, they can vastly augment their physical strength and perform feats that defy and distorts physics as we know it in our world.

This was not discovered by the inhabitants until almost 3000 years into their existence as a technology wielding species (note: technology can be anything from the wheel to modern radios and so on, just to be clear).

Since this discovery, those living on this world have researched and practiced this new ability and made good use of it in their building and improving their way of life. However, such a discovery is not without its downsides. An increase of warfare efficiency and frequency of conflicts, not to mention the brutality. After many years of both arms and Chakra technique race, the continent has been divided into many nations, large and small.

The biggest countries are named after one of the elements.

The elements are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Lightning. The smaller countries mostly use branch-offs titles from any of the bigger ones, for example Land of Waves or Wave Country, both work to indicate the same country. While others use original names non-affiliated with the bigger ones, for example Land of Rice or Rice Country.

During the chaotic formation of these nations, when wars were as brutal as they were common, one nation was caught in the struggle involuntarily. The people of that nation not wanting any part of the war despite they being proud warriors. Unlike the other nations, they were practitioners of not only the martial arts (henceforth referred to as Taijutsu), ninja arts and elemental styles commonly used by other nations, but also of something unique to them. This style or art they called, Spirit Art.

Spirit Art or Spirit Style has two sides to its use. One being the benevolent style which is used for the betterment of the self in some form or your fellow human while the other side, labeled as Ghost Style is for offensive purposes. These techniques focuses on stealth and sneak attacks.

These techniques and their origin have always been a mystery but since that war it's been all but forgotten.

The reason these people weren't more successful and more widely known is because they weren't a major nation. As a result they were vastly outnumbered when two big nations clashed, with them in the middle.

It was during this awful war that a decision was made, a decision which still has effects in their counterpart to a modern era.

Seeing no way to win this war which was forced upon them, the KamiKage (meaning Spirit Shadow, a Kage is the leader of the military of a country as well as a good portion of the civilians) had a meeting with his council.

"KamiKage-sama," One of the ninja generals spoke. "the armies of Lightning and Earth are pushing our forces back on all fronts. It is only a matter of time before they reach our village."

Another councilman, from the civilian branch, then spoke, fear evident in his voice.

"KamiKage-sama, we must surrender! Our women and children should not have to suffer because of our enemies' blood lust and power hunger!"

"But a surrender will only mean that we'll be included on one of the attacker's nations and we all know that isn't an option with our way of life. Besides, that's only the best scenario. Worst case is we are totally annihilated and our techniques bastardized for more killing and suffering, that is unacceptable." Said another of the ninja generals. His composure was calm, but he was worried as well inside.

Another civilian councilman then said, "That may be, but The Book of The One Spirit clearly states that human life is sacred and our choices must always reflect that."

"True, it also states that two of our utmost responsibilities is our use of our techniques and our efforts to keep them within our clans alone. We cannot allow any other clan outside of our village, let alone a nation, get their hands on our techniques as they are sacred and used only for justice and honor. If they were to fall into enemy hands, they'd be used for merciless killing and other horrible causes. We cannot fail The One Spirit in this." The first general spoke, calm yet firmly.

"KamiKage-sama, what should we do?"

All faces turned toward the white and dark gray robed man. His face obscured by his white and purple Kage hat. He sat there in silence for a minute, his subjects allowing him to think in peace.

"My fellow ninja, esteemed councilmen." The Kage began. Everyone already felt the severity in the decision that was to follow. "It is with a heavy heart that I must order you all to abandon the village."

Everyone gathered began to either whisper or talk worriedly with one another.

"Silence!" The Kage said firmly. The desired result was immediate.

"The civilian council is correct that lives are sacred and that our women and children shouldn't have to suffer. However, they are part of our clans and thus they too cannot fall into enemy hands. That is unless all scrolls and other things pertaining our techniques and way of life is destroyed and their minds wiped of the same. Then they, along with their male family members are free to choose to go where they please in this world."

"KamiKage-sama..."

"I am not done!" The Kage shouted, his sorrow evident. "But our way of life must be preserved at all costs. Therefore, we have to have some ninja clans escape with their scrolls and other belongings and continue our way of life, as a shattered nation across the world. A nation that is unified only through our faith, our techniques and through our clans."

The Kage let it sink, the silence deafening, before finishing. "In order to keep our faith alive not to mention our bonds and techniques, we will have a meeting of the clans in one of the neutral nations, whichever that may be at the time. This meeting will be once every decade, with today as the day of gathering. Not only that but today will also be remembered each year, to keep us together and alive as a nation. Make no mistake ladies and gentlemen, we will always be a nation! We will not cease to exist just because we've lost our current homes. One day we will have a home once again, one day we will not be wandering ninjas and one day our way of life shall be spread until finally this world will know true peace."

Everyone gathered gave a somber nod in agreement, then the only female ninja general spoke up.

"How will we gather everyone for the decade meeting, KamiKage-sama?"

"I too will go and be a ninja without a land. I will always carry our insignia, The Shining Book, with me. My decree is that every clan head will carry this along with their clan insignia, with their clan members only carrying the clan insignia. This is how we will know each other. When the time for the meeting comes, then head for the capital of the neutral country, we will find one another there. If more than one neutral country exist, then we shall pray for guidance. As it is written, when you ask Him for guidance, it will be given. Finally, when the time comes for the next KamiKage, The One Spirit will call and gather all clan heads to my location. It will be decided then and there."

The KamiKage then rose to his feet, all of the council followed.

"Alright. Ninja generals, who among you will volunteer for be the wandering ninjas?"

All ninja generals, who are also all of the clan heads, came forth. The kage gave a big proud smile.

"I had no doubt my faith in you was well placed. It gives my heart great joy too see all of you confirm it in this way. Now your orders are clear, gather all your clan scrolls and other technique related objects and leave the village with your clans. But make sure that where ever you intend to go you are spread out and in civilian disguises. Don't travel in groups as they will attract attention. At the most travel in pairs and then regroup as a clan in the nearest neutral village of your choosing. From there you will plan your next move as you see fit, provided it follows our way of life."

"Who will you accompany, KamiKage-sama?" The first general spoke.

"I will travel alone. I will seal all that is mine in scrolls and I will keep them secret. When it's time, I will give those scrolls to the next KamiKage."

"Remember, wealth is not as important as the other things, but money is still important so make sure at least a portion of your wealth is sealed so you can manage your life on the road. You can make a living as hired workers, bounty hunters and traveling merchants or traveling craftsmen."

"Mercenaries is a forbidden practice. When you fight, remember should you work with other shinobi, refrain as much as possible from using clan or village specific jutsus (techniques). Should you need to, make sure to not agree to teach them. The only exception is if the ninja wishes to become one of us, but that has to be ascertained to be a genuine wish first, The One Spirit will guide you in this. Any questions?"

The female ninja spoke, "KamiKage-sama, if someone asks where we come from what to we answer?"

"We may have once been of the Spirit country and the village hidden in The Book, but we will from this day be a shattered nation, a splintered country. We were once a living village, we seem now like a ghost of our former selves. From this day forth until our reformation as a country, we will be the Village Hidden in the Shadows located in Ghost country. I will no longer be the KamiKage, I will now be called YokaiKage or Ghost Shadow and everyone after me until our reformation."

He then put his hands on a shoulder of his closest generals and looked at each an every one.

"This will be our greatest test of faith and our greatest strife. But if we stay the course, then as it is written, we shall reap the rewards accordingly." He said with a sad smile, which each returned.

"May The One Spirit stay with us!" He then shouted.

"May He steer us as we journey!" They responded.

"May He keep us strong!" He continued.

"May He bless us with growth!" They responded.

"And may His goals be achieved!" He finished.

"And we be part of his divine village!" They finished.

"Move out!"

And that's how the country known as Spirit Country became the people without one, the Ghost Country. When asked they answered that they hail from the village hidden in the shadows. Most of the time the people they dealt with accepted it as they aren't that well versed in other countries and villages in the first place. Sometimes when dealt with more knowledgeable people, they invoke their right as shinobi to not divulge more information, which also worked. But when dealing with neutral shinobi they had to be even more secretive and refuse altogether where they came from. Any conflicts resulted either in the enemy barely winning and not gaining their knowledge through post-mortem self-cremation (a unique technique to them) or no witnesses.

Right after the escape, the hostile countries thought they had utterly destroyed their 'little' foes which were mainly an obstacle to reach their true enemy, each other. It helped that the country became a desolate place with nothing but ruins and corpses of shinobi and kunoichi from each country. The dead shinobi that came from hidden the Book village had died giving their fellow clansmen and villagers time to prepare for and perform their escape. Their names and sacrifice had been added to the book of the fallen, which is about remembering and honoring the fallen's sacrifice and courage.

Now, centuries has come and gone and three major wars have erupted and ended. The world is rather peaceful and stable for the time being but tensions and grudges still linger between countries.

Since some time, titanic creatures of pure chakra emerged. They are referred to as tailed beasts or bijuu. Each beast has different amounts of tails as well as other characteristics. From one tailed to nine tails and each seem to adhere to a specific element or concept.

These powerful creatures, rumored to have been related in some way to a ten tailed beast of legend, have rampaged across each nation's lands. The Kage's of each nation came up with a solution, to seal away the beasts in human bodies to contain their otherwise unstoppable power. The only way this would work is if done with a newborn child whose chakra network hasn't developed yet.

One such child was Naruto Uzumaki. His life had just begun, and he was heading for an agonizing existence.


	2. Ghost Shadow Intervention

Chapter 1: Ghost Shadow Intervention

10th of October, 6 AK (After Kyuubi attack)

Dusk at Konoha. A young, blond boy was running through the streets of Konoha. He had a look of dread on his face as he ran as fast as his kid legs could carry him. He turned a corner and a few seconds later a mob of angry civilians sporting different blunt weapons and tools as well as torches.

"GET THAT DEMON BRAT!" One of them screamed.

"HE'LL PAY FOR ATTACKING OUR VILLAGE!" Came another voice.

"I think he went this way!" Another shouted.

They continued their pursuit of the poor child well into the late evening when everything went almost completely dark.

'Why is everyone after me? It's always the worst today of all days. Why do they call me demon brat? I'm just a normal kid for Kami's sake!' The terrified kid shouted in his mind.

Fortunately for him, he's used somewhat to being chased by both civilians and ninja alike, whether it be out of pure spite or because of a prank he loves oh so very much to perform. So he knows Konoha, or the Village Hidden in the Leaves, in Fire Country, like the back of his hand.

Unfortunately, due to some reconstruction, one of his escape routes has been cut off and he found

himself in a dead-end. Hiding behind a dumpster, he hoped no one would follow him into the alley.

This hope would be in vain, however, as one in the mob suggested to look in said alley for him.

It didn't take long for them to locate him.

"AHA! Found you at last, nine tails!" One said with fury.

"Be quiet! We're not to speak of that in front of him!" Another said, fearing the death penalty that the Hokage (Fire Shadow) had decreed about speaking of the nine tailed fox and the attack it made 6 years ago, especially in front of this kid.

"Well, Naruto. Any last words before we give you your just punishment?" One said with pure hatred.

"Punishment for what? What have I done that is so horrible to any of you? I admit I pulled pranks but I don't deserve this!" Naruto tearfully exclaimed in a mix of anger and fear.

"We aren't allowed to speak of it, especially to you. But that doesn't matter, it just confirms your guilt, brat."

"No! I wont accept your punishment without knowing what I've done!" Naruto screamed in defiance.

"HAH! Trying to sound like a victim? We are the victims here, demon child. And now vengeance for our killed family mebmers will be ours."

"Wha...? Dead family members? What are you talking about?" Naruto said with much confusion.

"Enough! Everyone take turns beating him. I got dibs." Said a man and took steps towards Naruto, a torch and a club in his hands.

Naruto received a beating from the man and a couple of light burns from the torch. His screams could be heard far from where they were. When the man was finished he motioned for the next one to do the same.

"What's going on here?" An angry voice shouted into the area

A man had appeared behind the mob in the alley. He was wearing dark clothing without any sort of markings or letter found usually with civilian clothing, whether it was black or dark blue or something akin to those wasn't easy to tell because of the lack of light. He had a sword of some kind strapped on his back, it looked like a katana from where Naruto was lying on the ground. His face was obscured because he was facing towards the ground partially, making the light fall on his forehead but shadowed the rest of his visage. This, along with his voice, clearly indicated he was upset about what was transpiring.

"What's it look like? We're giving the demon brat justice. Why don't you join us?" The man closest to the newcomer gleefully stated.

"Justice? Justice? What in Kami's name is just about beating and harming a child no older than 8?" The shouted with fury.

"What? Are you a demon lover or something?" Someone said with obvious mockery.

"Explain yourself!" The stranger demanded. Killing Intent started to build up in the area, emanating from the stranger.

"Oh, you must be new here. This kid..."

"QUIET! You know we can't speak of it. Or else we die."

At this the stranger stated in a very cold voice, "So you are saying you cannot tell me the reason because you'd die?"

"Y-yes, the Hokage has decreed..." Someone began.

"Then I'm afraid you're out of luck. Because I will ask once again why you are doing this. Should you choose not to answer, none of you will leave here with the ability to breathe. Answer me and I'll just break every bone in your body. Either way, this is going to end. Right now!" The stranger stated, his voice quite literally freezing the people's blood. All the while putting on a ninja mask covering all but his eyes. Then began to take steps towards them, slowly.

"W-wha...?" Naruto said quietly in disbelief. He couldn't quite grasp that this stranger was going out of his way to help him. Not that he wasn't appreciating it, oh no. He was overjoyed, behind his tears.

"We wont disobey the Hokage."

"Such loyalty. I suppose there's a sliver of honor in that. But I refuse to accept the thought of you following a Kage that would persecute innocent children." The stranger said, still walking.

"N-no, he hasn't said or done anything of the sort. We're doing this on our own accord."

The killing intent from the stranger now rose rapidly, the promise of agony was almost tangible. Everyone, save Naruto, started to sweat profusely.

"I think I will have a word or two with this Kage of yours regarding your monstrous behavior towards this boy. Last chance, tell me WHY?"

"I-it's not l-like he doesn't d-deserve it. A-after all, he's..."

"Quiet!" One of the others said.

"Oh no, please, do go on." The stranger said coldly, with a menacing grin hidden behind his mask.

"H-he's the demon child, the one the Yondaime Hokage (the 4th Hokage) sealed the nine tailed fox beast before it could utterly destroy the village." The man finished.

The stranger stopped, not averting his hard gaze on the mob.

"So, he's a jinchuuriki."

"That's right. We may be forbidden to talk about it in front of the boy, but it wont matter now since he's gonna die here and now anyway." The leader of the mob said, stepping forward.

"Nuh-uh." The stranger held up his finger. "I don't think so."

Then, his killing intent went off the scale, and the mob saw a brief glowing of pure white coming from his eyes. Despite the intimidating display, the bravest, or rather stupidest of the lot said,

"Oh, like you can stop us all? For one, we're civilians and a ninja of the village attacking a civilian is a serious offence. Two we outnumber you vastly." The leader said.

The stranger gave his reply, unfazed, while slowly pulling his katana.

"One, I'm not a ninja from this village. Two, your numbers matter not. And three, defending a boy from malicious adults is never an offense."

"Your funeral, come on let's get this guy!"

The mob started walking towards the ninja, some with hesitant steps some with more confidence.

The ninja was not in the least intimidated. He raised his free hand to his chest, forming a one hand seal. It extended the index and ring finger while the remaining were clutched, pointing towards his heart.

"Ghost Style: Haunting Hunt." He said.

Before the eyes of the mob, the ninja faded from sight and the area was filled with a sound. It sounded like someone exhaling loudly and slowly. Everyone was looking around for the ninja, scared as hell. Suddenly one of the mob gasped and acted like he was in a stranglehold, then he suddenly screamed and faded from view much like the ninja. Right after he was completely gone, another from the mob screamed and fell with a katana slash wound across the back of his legs.

More and more of the mob fell and or disappeared and panic was very soon upon the remaining ones.

"We have to get out of here! Kami help us!" One screamed in utter fear.

"Kami wont help you monsters, he's the one that gave me the permission to exact your punishment. And for your information, you're not going anywhere until I've performed said duty." The ninja's eery voice came from everywhere.

Naruto watched as every single member of the mob fell over from an invisible barrier. The prankster in him had to laugh at the display. But he knew what was going to happen next, they would all be severely injured or killed very soon. Despite what they did to him, he didn't want that to happen. He was now partially aware of the reason they seemed to hate him for. He didn't understand, all he knew is that he was something special and people hated him for that, he needed to know more. But for now he didn't want the people hurt anymore.

"Stop! Shinobi-san, please stop!" Came the shout of Naruto.

Everyone was still in a panic, but the violence didn't stop.

"STOOOOOOP!" Naruto now screamed.

This caught the attention of the mob and the killing stopped.

"Shinobi-san! Please, don't hurt them anymore!" He pleaded with the unseen shinobi.

"You're asking me to halt my punishment on your tormentors, boy?" Came the shinobi's voice from everywhere.

"Yes, what they did was wrong but they seem to have some reason for it. I need to know more, but for right now I forgive them. Please, let them go."

The mob looked at the boy in absolute shock and confusion. Here they were to hurt him and even kill him, yet the boy had forgiven them and pleaded with their attacker to let them go. Some began to rethink their actions and attitude there and then while some more stubborn ones started to wonder what the boy's angle was.

"They don't deserve to be forgiven, not in my eyes at least. Their sin is great."

"It's not up to you to forgive here, it's up to me. Everyone deserves at least a second chance." Naruto replied, looking around.

There was silence for a moment. The mob clearly feeling their lives hanging in the balance. Finally the shinobi said,

"You are fortunate to have such a forgiving child in your village. If only he didn't have a reason to forgive such a _grave_ transgression." The emphasis on 'grave' was ghastly. "You may leave. Pray that Kami forgives you, for I will not until I see you change your ways."

At that the ones he had removed from the group through fading appeared in mid-air and fell a couple of feet to the ground. The mob picked them up and stretched their arms to check if the barrier was gone. After confirming it was they ran out of the alley.

Once they were gone, the shinobi appeared out of thin air in front of Naruto.

"You have a big heart, boy. What's your name?" He spoke kindly.

"N-Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." He answered, still shivering from all the recent events.

"You have nothing to fear from me, Naruto. You're safe now. I'm..." He paused in thought. "You may call me Yokai Kage."

"G-Ghost Shadow? Are you a kage?"

"To the first one, that's right. The second, I can't say what village I'm from much less if I'm that village's kage. Of course that's not my real name but a code name, for reasons I can't tell you about, I can't reveal my real name."

"I understand, you are a ninja after all, you have to be secretive." Naruto said.

"Hehehe, you're right. Now, where do you live, Naruto. I'll make sure you'll get home safe."

Naruto gave a somber chuckle. "That's ironic, I'm not really safe there either."

This really angered Yokai even more but he didn't let it show to the already shaken boy.

"All the same, I'll take you there."

After a small while of walking, they arrived at Naruto's dump of an apartment. After seeing the poor state of his home as well as the hateful graffiti and burn marks from previous attempts to torch his home is anger turned into pure wrath and he now really wanted to talk with this Hokage about his Jinchuuriki.

"My boy, how can you stand living in this place?" Yokai asked.

"My dream is to become Hokage. Anyone who had become one had to work hard, beat bad odds and endure much pain. A kage's duty is to protect those dear to him or her, which from what I hear from the Hokage himself is the entire village. That's why I can stand it because if I can stand all this crap already then I'm well on my way on my journey to become the Hokage."

Yokai raised his brows at this.

"That's an admirable dream, Naruto. How many loved ones do you have right now?"

Naruto answered with a grin. "I have Ojii-san, he's the Hokage."

"You refer to your Hokage as Ojii-san?" Yokai asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah, he's been like a grandfather to me from the start. He's taken care of me the best he can considering he's a busy old man, getting me this apartment, money for food and helping me get clothes from shops that otherwise would throw me out, refusing me to buy anything at all."

Yokai was astounded, he thought at first the Hokage had silently approved of the beatings but it seems he has been his ally all along. This soothed his anger greatly but he still was upset that the boy didn't get more help or the fact he didn't do anything about the civilians' view on him.

"I see, so who else is there?"

"Well, there's old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame who run the best ramen stand anywhere; Ichiraku Ramen. They've treated me very kindly and sometimes when I'm in a big pinch they even treat me to a free ramen to help out. He's like an uncle to me and Ayame's like a big sister."

"That's good, who else?"

Now Naruto took a sorrowful look. "There is no one else."

Yokai felt great sympathy for the big hearted boy in front of him. If there was anyone he's ever met who he felt didn't deserve anything bad in his life it was Naruto. Despite all the hatred, beatings, mistreatment and persecutions and the few allies and friends he has, he seems to still make it with a grin and with hope for the future.

It was then that Yokai made a decision.

"Naruto, you have another friend."

"Who?"

Yokai chuckled and gave him a kind look.

"Y-you?"

"Mmhmm, it's a rare thing for me to find a boy with such a stout heart and kind soul as you. It would be my honor, Naruto, to be considered one of your friends." He said sincerely.

Naruto looked at Yokai. Yokai could see the gratefulness in his blue, pained eyes, which were starting to moisten.

"You... I..." He couldn't finish, instead he enveloped Yokai in a bear hug, for a kid anyway. After a few moments of sobbing he finally could speak. "Thank you, thank you so much! I'm glad to have another friend."

Yokai couldn't help but shed a tear himself.

"I'm glad. Now, Naruto, you should get to bed."

"Wait, will you still be around tomorrow?"

"Yes, I will be around for the time being. So I will see you tomorrow."

Naruto gave a huge grin and a big, brief hug before running off to prepare for bed. Yokai smiled at the boy before he shunshined away to the outside. He then made his way to the Hokage tower, which he's been rather late getting to since his arrival because of the incident.


	3. Doubts of Shadows

Chapter 2: Doubts of Shadows

The Hokage sat in his chair, finishing some paperwork to lighten tomorrow's load while waiting for the guest he expected. The guest was late, and he was past beyond the limit of 'fashionably late' too. Sarutobi, which was the name of the Hokage, was about to call his ANBU and have them find him when his secretary announced his arrival.

"Hokage-sama, your guest has arrived."

"Very well, send him in, please."

Yokai entered, not wearing his mask anymore. With enough light now present, one could see that he was a young man in his mid-twenties, had chestnut-brown hair less than an inch long and in a rather disorderly state, most likely from the ruckus earlier. He also had a patch of short beard on his chin and a mustache cut short right above his upper lip. His eyes, which matched his hair's color, at the moment had a serious look in them rather than the pleasant greeting the Hokage expected from an emissary, which usually meant either ass-kissing or genuine wishes for mutual agreements. His body was well built but not to any extremes like one would expect from Gai's training regiment.

Most likely it meant that his preferred style was a well balanced mix of nimbleness and strength. The clothes were in fact marine blue all over and not dissimilar to ANBU clothing in appearance, only they sported a more complete body covering. As he was right then, only his head was visible as he wore gloves. His katana was removed by security for obvious reasons and a temporary chakra suppression seal was placed on his neck to reduce it to only necessary levels.

"Ah, greetings. I'm Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hokage of Konohagakure (Village Hidden in the Leaves)." Sarutobi stood and offered his hand.

Yokai merely nodded and said, "Greetings Hokage-sama. I'm Yokai."

Disappointed and curious about the lack of courtesy, Sarutobi removed his hand and sat down. "A pleasure, though I am concerned about the somber mood you appear to be in, Yokai-san. May I ask what is troubling you?" Hokage asked sincerely.

Yokai decided to give the Hokage a chance and said, "Very well, I am concerned about the way your citizens behave themselves."

"Oh? And what have they done that has disturbed you?"

Yokai looked around briefly. In the blink of an eye he had made a few rapid hand seals, uttering, "Spirit Style: Liberation". The suppression seal vanished. Like a bolt of lightning he flew past the Hokage and performed a sound and entrance sealing jutsu. Finally he put a hand over the Hokage's mouth. The Hokage had only time to be surprised, he was about to call his ANBU guards but the hand stopped him.

"Be at ease, Hokage-sama. I will not hurt you or do anything else with ill intent. I merely do not wish to be interrupted in any way with what I'm about to discuss with you." Yokai stated reassuringly yet firmly.

The Hokage calmed down at this but was understandably not fully relaxed, "As you wish, but you could've simply asked me for that and it would've been done."

"My apologies, Hokage-sama. But seals can be circumvented by those who are familiar with them. Thus I preferred my own. Besides that, I need to be at my full power."

"What for? What is this all about?" The Hokage calmly said.

Yokai removed his grip on Sarutobi and walked back around the table to face the Kage.

"I cannot say why I need to be at full power, but look at it this way, I won't make any malicious attempts of any kind so it will be something of a show of good faith. As to your second question..."

Yokai went on to explain what he walked into and everything that had occurred 'til the point he left Naruto to meet with Sarutobi.

"At first I admit I was furious at your citizens and by extension yourself. After Naruto pleaded with me to not go through with my bringing just punishment to those monsters I had a talk with him. Among other things he said, he spoke highly of you. He seems to hold you in such high regard and goes to far as to refer to you as his unofficial grandfather. That is why I'm not as furious anymore with you. But I still am angry that you allow such things to happen to that kindhearted boy, especially since you two seem to be so close."

Sarutobi sat and listened intently through it all and when Yokai was finally finished he laid back in his chair, sighed and lighted his pipe. After taking a couple of puffs, he said,

"I'm glad to hear Naruto's found a friend in you, Yokai-san. Though I'm not surprised he did since I recognize his ability to befriend anyone that either doesn't know of his condition or can see past it, even at such a young age."

Sarutobi took another puff, then continued, "I'm also glad you came to his defense, especially since it looked like he was about to get killed by the mob this time, you have my personal gratitude."

Yokai nodded. Sarutobi resumed once more, "That said, I am, as Hokage, upset at your attacking my citizens..."

Yokai stood up from the guest chair he had sat on, "How can you still care about such monsters' well being? They have no excuse...!"

He was interrupted by the Hokage lifting his hand to silence him, which he had the respect to comply with.

"It brings so much paperwork when that happens. Please refrain from killing citizens in the future." The Hokage said with a certain glint in the eye.

The two looked at one another until Yokai burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha! You are a amusing one, Sarutobi-sama, if I may call you that?"

Sarutobi nodded, smiling. "It's alright. Truth be told, I would have done the same thing, the difference being I can do that as the Hokage because I would have just reason. You as a guest to our village don't have such privilege, no matter how justified the action was, sadly."

"Well, don't worry. I didn't actually kill anyone. I consider life to be sacred, even such garbage. My intention was to scare the living daylights out of them along with actual pain to underline my point."

The Hokage then unexpectedly slammed his forehead on the desk and groaned quite loudly.

"What? What's the matter, Sarutobi-sama?"

"You did the right thing, Yokai. Unfortunately, the right thing means almost double the paperwork for me tomorrow as the survivors reports and complaints besides the council papers will try to push me into 'dealing' with Naruto." He then regained his composure, "Of course, that won't happen. I'll die before I 'deal' with him."

Yokai had to grin at the Hokage and his antics. He definitely liked this old man.

"That's good to hear, Sarutobi-sama. Now, if you don't mind telling me more about Naruto and his condition?"

Sarutobi proceeded to tell about how Naruto as an infant was chosen to hold the Kyuubi and how the 4th Hokage, Minato Namikaze, died in the process, hoping that the village would consider Naruto a hero for his sacrifice, especially since it was forced upon him.

"My Kami. If that's the case, why do the villagers hate him so?"

"Simply put, they are victims of the Kyuubi's attack 6 years ago. They either lost family members and/or friends or they were injured beyond our healing abilities, losing property and belongings. All adults know of the fact of the Kyuubi being sealed in him but their grief and consequently their rage towards the demon blinds them to see the difference between its jailor and itself."

"I see. I understand them more, but being an outside observer helps me see the truth. Now I'm glad I didn't kill them. While still a horrible transgression, they aren't the completely evil people as I previously thought."

"Indeed. But your concern about the boy needing more protection is absolutely correct. However, as Hokage I have to deal not only with generic village business. I also have to hold off the council, they want his blood as much as the common civilian does if not more. One in particular..."

He trailed off into a mumble. Yokai wisely decided that it wasn't something he should pursue.

"I am still curious as to why the 4th chose him. How could he have someone else's child hold the demon? As the Hokage at the time, how could he ask someone else to do something he couldn't?"

Sarutobi gave him a brief but intense look, then said, "That is something I cannot share with you, I cannot even share it with Naruto. Not yet anyway."

Yokai didn't need more than that to put 2 & 2 together. "He's the son of the 4th, isn't he!" He exclaimed.

The Hokage immediately sprung to his feet and gazed hard at Yokai, momentarily stunning him.

"That is a secret big enough to warrant an execution just for knowing! Here and now, Yokai-san, you will give me a reason not to follow through with just that!" Sarutobi demanded.

Yokai, while still slightly stunned, nodded with understanding. "You have my solemn vow as a Shinobi and a man of Kami that I won't divulge anything about this matter without your explicit permission."

Looking at Yokai intently, Sarutobi could see the sincerity in his gaze. Years of experience, not to mention training in lie detection, allowed him to see the truth in the eyes of the person he was talking with.

Realizing this, he finally relaxed.

"Very good, I will trust you. I suppose you're curious as to why it is such a secret?" To which Yokai nodded.

"This village has many enemies, most of them bear a grudge against Namikaze in particular. His defense of our nation earned him the nickname The Yellow Flash from both his allies and his enemies. I won't tell you anything about that except that he managed to kill many, many enemies in no more than a few blinks of an eye. Because of this, if it was known that Naruto is the son of Minato and heir to the Namikaze Clan, they would waste no time or resources to get to him in any way possible."

"Not only that, Minato himself decreed before his death that Naruto should only learn specific pieces of the whole story at certain milestones in his life: his graduation from the academy, promotion to Chuunin and the day he turns eighteen. He stated the reason being both what I said before and his fear that Naruto wouldn't be able to handle that much information all at once and too early, thus risking growing up the wrong way and with the wrong attitude."

Yokai could see the merit those points had. His heart went out to the boy and even more was convinced that his next course of action was the right one.

"Hokage-sama, I formally request to take Naruto with me and train him in my people's way, provided he himself agrees."

Sarutobi was stunned, to say the least. He didn't expect this coming from a stranger who just arrived in a diplomatic mission. Although, he had to admit he already liked the man considerably and had divulged incredibly sensitive information to him. Still, was it wise to hand him over? He needed to know more first.

"I am surprised, no, utterly stunned by this request, Yokai-san. You feel this strongly for the boy?"

"Yes, Sarutobi-sama. My short time with the boy has impacted me greatly and I wish to save him from this, pardon the expression, hell-hole and give him the training he needs to evolve into an awesome shinobi. I promise to return here when the academy starts so he can learn all that I cannot teach him, such as village specific teachings."

"I am intrigued, but you must understand that we've just met, Yokai-san. I cannot in good consciousness hand him over to you without knowing you better."

"That is alright, Sarutobi-sama. I am prepared to give sensitive information about my village as a show of good faith in addition to return the gesture of letting me know Naruto's secrets."

Yokai then went on to tell the Hokage about his people's history, without revealing anything too specific about their jutsus and teachings. Mostly it was about what their jutsus entail in general and their way of life and beliefs. Sarutobi was dumbfounded to learn all of this, he remember several small notes in the history books about annihilated smaller countries and villages. But he didn't ever expect to encounter the remnant of such an old society, and not only that but to learn the extent to how they've survived.

When he learned that an emissary from a previously unknown village* was coming to speak with him he didn't have the slightest hint towards anything out of the ordinary.

"I... I see. That is quite some tale you've just told me, Yokai-san. I'd say it more than makes up for the one I've told you about Uzumaki Naruto." He said, smiling somberly. "I'd very much like to meet your Kage and discuss diplomatic matters more."

"What would your intentions be?" Yokai asked firmly.

"To build friendly relations of course. Is that a problem?" The Hokage asked honestly.

"Not in itself perhaps. But our way of life and teachings are not in any way for conquest through might, but spreading of true peace and might of defense. Thus if we build friendly relations we will not go with you to war, unless there is a very good reason we can agree to. At the same time, should you be invaded ruthlessly we would have a much easier time coming to your aid, provided Konoha's government stays pure as I've so far seen from your rule.

Sarutobi nodded. "Although I have to disagree, I don't think Konoha is led by purity. There's much bitterness in the village and the council is scheming in the dark."

"Which is why I think that you're doing a good job of leading the village by example, despite the slip-ups with Naruto."

"What do you mean?"

"Despite all the bitterness and the fact you have a scheming council, which frankly is found everywhere, that much I can tell you with certainty, you still have led Konoha in its rebuilding since it's tragic casualties in the wars and the Kyuubi incident. Not only has the village prospered, but you've kept those that oppose you at bay and adamantly led by example, that being about love, compassion and the will to protect."

"How can you claim this, after what you've seen today?" Sarutobi asked, shocked.

"Today's incident was a chance encounter. Other times I've heard the reports from our spies..." The Hokage visibly tensed at this. Yokai noticed and raised his hand in a reassuring manner. "Relax they merely wanted to ascertain your standing in things. The people are quite content and happy most of the time and the shinobi have what you call "The Will of Fire", the will to protect those dear to them. A concept we can agree with."

"I... I'm flattered by your praise. But I still don't understand. Only a Kage can see reports of those magnitudes and make the claims you're making."

Yokai smiled and stood up. "Allow me to reveal my full code-name. Yokai Kage, Ghost Shadow. One day maybe we'll perhaps know each other with our full names. Eh, Hokage-dono?" He extended his hand to Sarutobi.

A shaken Sarutobi stood slowly and gave his hand.

"Now, Sarutobi-dono. What say we discuss the matters I really came here for, huh?" Yokai said, smirking.

The Hokage chuckled and nodded. They sat down and discussed the matter they were intended to discuss from the start. Some new things were added in light of what has transpired. Among them the fact that Yokai would ask Naruto to travel with him and be trained as a Ghost Shinobi.

*(this happens once in a great while as sometimes smaller villages grow in size until finally receiving recognition from the rest of the world as being a village of importance. When this status is achieved, they are allowed to apply for independence or join with a bigger country as minor to major village as per the international treaty after the first great shinobi war.)


	4. Ghost Stalker Begins

Chapter 3: Ghost Stalker Begins

Naruto was still in bed as the sun began to rise. He had no reason to get up early in the morning, none whatsoeverl. So he was used to sleeping in and only getting up late in the morning to eat breakfast and do whatever comes to mind after that, usually entailing pranks or attempting to find friends.

When he finally did arouse from his slumber around 10:20, he found he had reason to be chipper, he'd found a friend in an awesome shinobi yesterday. While eating his instant ramen breakfast, he decided to look for him and get to know him better.

As it turned out, he didn't have to, for when he was putting his dishes away for later scrubbing, Yokai made himself known.

"Hey, Naruto. How are you this morning? Feeling better?" Yokai greeted cheerfully from the window. Naruto jumped, surprised but then a wide grin spread across his face.

"Hey, Yokai-san! Yeah, I'm good. I kinda always had the ability to heal quick from any injury, I dunno why though." Naruto shrugged at his explanation.

'I was right. The kid's mind must've been all over the place yesterday 'cause of the mob fight, not to mention that things such as the Kyuubi are hard to grasp for a 6 year old, it's no real wonder he doesn't remember it all. I suppose it's for the best then, especially with what Sarutobi-dono and I agreed on last night.' Yokai thought somberly.

_Flashback no jutsu_

"_Oh, Kami-sama! I almost forgot to ask. Yokai-dono, did what the mob said to you about Naruto happen in front of him?" Sarutobi asked, very concerned._

"_Yes, Hokage-dono. He heard every word of it. Although if my suspicion is right, the fact he's a six year old combined with the tumultuous events around him at the time, I doubt he had the presence of mind to process all of that." Yokai said reassuringly._

"_Hmm, perhaps. But I'd have you find out how much he knows next time you speak with him, gently of course so he doesn't think to much about it. If he still doesn't comprehend it, then it's better if it stays that way, Yokai-dono. He will find out later in his life, one way or another, but in his younger years he must not find out." The Hokage stated firmly._

"_I understand, I won't speak of it in front of him. Although, in all honesty Sarutobi-dono, he has the right to know, just as much as it is his right to find out about his heritage. Therefore I must ask if during the final weeks before returning him for his academy start, if it is alright to let him know."_

_Sarutobi looked down at his desk deep in thought. What Yokai had said was of course right, he did have the right to know. The question is; when was it time for him to learn? The 4__th__ did say that he was to learn of his heritage, and while not stating such, it meant that, by extension, he'd learn of his prisoner within him. There was no way he would not learn of the Kyuubi's attack and the 4th's defeat of the beast during his academy years. That said, there was nothing to say that he couldn't learn of the Kyuubi inside of him earlier than the heritage facts. It might be helpful in easing his mind and to grow as a shinobi. Then again, it might drive him insane._

_Although, knowing Naruto, he had already endured so much pain and potentially mind breaking events that he could handle it by the time Yokai wanted to tell him, especially since he will have been away from his tormentors enough to be more at ease._

"_You make a good point, Yokaikage-dono." The Hokage finally said. "However, instead of telling him somewhere out there, I'd be more at ease personally observing Naruto and how he handles himself during his academy years before I finally tell him. Not only that, but if he goes through the academy thinking he's more powerful than others because of his status as a Jinchuuriki it is bound to cause friction. Not that that isn't the truth, about him having more power, but I don't think I need to explain further, do I? When the time comes to tell him, I'd like it if you were there."_

"_Me? Why?"_

"_Because when he learns of it he will, with little doubt, remember the night you were there to save him, despite you knowing of his plight. It would be of great help to have more people around him that accept him for him and not care about his prisoner."_

"_I see your point. Very well, I will not tell him. In hindsight, that duty has always been yours, Sarutobi-dono."_

_Flashback no jutsu, release!_

"Well, that's a good thing." Yokai said grinning. "Tell me Naruto. How badly do you want to become a shinobi?"

"It's my dream! I can't think of a way to want it more."

"What are you prepared to do?" Yokai asked seriously.

"Whatever it takes, believe it!" Naruto said, giving a confident grin along with a thumbs-up.

Yokai gave an approving nod. "Naruto, I'm going to make you an offer. Hopefully it's one you can't refuse, because I'd rather you accepted."

"What is it, Yokai-san?" Naruto asked, curious.

Yokai chuckled at the kid's apparent inability to follow this trail he verbally laid out.

"I want to take you with me on my journeys, to train you in the ways of the ninja. It will give you a good head start when you start the academy when you come of age." Yokai said.

Naruto blinked once, twice, then he grinned so widely he risked splitting his ears. A shout of joy resounded throughout the whole neighborhood.

"Woohooo-Yeaaaah! I accept, Yokai-sensei! I want to learn what you have to teach me and become a shinobi!" Naruto shouted very excitedly and happily.

Yokai laughed heartily at the display of happiness. "I'm glad Naruto, I truly am. Now then, I see no reason to linger any longer. Go on and pack, I'll wait here."

Naruto was about to comply when he suddenly remembered Sarutobi.

"What about Ojii-san? I can't leave without his permission." Naruto said, afraid his chance might be lost.

"Haha, don't worry. I've already talked with him, he's given me his permission. We both agree that it will only be good for you to leave this place and come back later when you're able to defend yourself, not to mention having that head start in the academy."

"Allright! I won't be long, sensei!" Naruto ran into his bedroom to pack his essentials.

As promised, he didn't take long. He came out with a rather stuffed backpack and wearing an orange jumpsuit ready to go.

"Alright, all set. Let's go, sensei." Naruto said, stomping excitedly.

Yokai looked at his clothing and the stuffed bag.

"Umm... Naruto. What's with the flashy orange jumpsuit and what have you stuffed your bag with?"

"What do you mean? It's the only real clothes good for travel I was able to buy, besides I like the color orange. And I've packed all the instant ramen I can carry, should last me for a couple of months." He said.

Yokai's eyebrow twitched. The Hokage did mention in passing about his addiction to ramen, but he didn't take it as anything serious. The reason that those were the only clothes he was allowed to buy was painfully obvious to the experienced ninja, to make him very visible for anyone who wanted to find him and harm him.

"Ok, first off. We're going to get you better clothes than that. As a shinobi, you have to wear clothes that are practical for tools and weapons as well as offering better concealment ability and perhaps even protection depending on the circumstance. But before you get too depressed, it's not your fault, I can tell. Those bigot shopkeepers did this to you, not yourself. Let me find good clothes for you before we go."

Naruto nodded, smiling. Yokai continued, "As for all the instant ramen. I want you to remove all of them..."

"WHAAT!" Naruto exclaimed with a hugely disappointed face.

"... except for a week's supply. Not more. And do ration them so they last longer. We won't be buying much of them afterwards. After all, you need to eat healthily to get stronger. Now while I go and get proper clothes for you, you get rid of those ramen and pack more necessary stuff. Clear?"

Naruto, while not too happy about the ramen, understood his reasoning. He gave a salute and went back to his bedroom, somewhat sulkily. Yokai chuckled as he went out the window.

An hour later Naruto and Yokai were wandering along road from Konoha. The goodbye from Sarutobi was heartfelt but brief as he had to get back to the blood-sucking council of civilians.

"So what's first, Yokai-sensei?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Easy, Naruto. We have years to train you, let's first get to the next village before we start."

"Can't we at least talk about what we're gonna be doing?"

"Hmm, I suppose we could. First we're gonna get your strength, endurance, nimbleness and speed up so you're ready for anything the academy throws at you. Later on we'll work on a taijutsu that fits you as well as ninjutsu. Genjutsu is something we'll have to discover if you have an affinity for later on. Later on you will get the option to choose a weapon to fight with. Then there's the possibility of me teaching you some of my personal skills."

"Oooh, like that ghost trick you did back in the alley?"

"Hahaha, yes like that. But it is much to early for us to delve deeper into that."

"Why?"

"Frankly, because you're too young to grasp the concepts. Don't worry, we'll get to that in due time. We have enough to work with with the other things."

"Ok. What did you mean with a taijutsu that fits me? Isn't taijutsu just kicking and punching your enemy to a pulp?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Heheh, I don't blame you for not seeing the difference, you are after all only six years old." Yokai said kindly. Naruto thought, however, that the 'only six years old' thing was getting old fast. "Some taijutsu focuses on speed and evasion while some focuses on sheer power and endurance. There are of course more variations but those are the two most common disciplines."

"Can't I learn to use combinations of those? I mean if I could both be strong and fast, I would be hard to hit while hitting hard."

"There's logic in what you say, Naruto. But that's easier said than done. If you grow in strength one usually loses nimbleness and speed. The same applies for the other way around, if you focus on nimbleness and speed you don't really get strong. Only truly dedicated taijutsu students evolve their art into a fine balance of the two. The very same thing can be said about any other field of ninja skills.

Naruto looked at his sensei strangely. Yokai looked back, confused. "What is it, Naruto?"

"Didn't you hear me back in my apartment, sensei? I'll do whatever it takes to become a great shinobi!" Naruto said with gusto.

Yokai looked at the blonde boy, he admired his spirit. He knew this journey and the training would be fruitful and interesting.


	5. Enter Naruto Uzumaki

Chapter 4: Enter Naruto Uzumaki

Time: 10 AK

Location: Konohagakure Ninja Academy; Classroom 1

Iruka Umino sat at his desk going over the list of students he would be in charge of for the next four years. This class to be was really something, many of the students are actually heirs to many of the shinobi clans in Konoha.

First there's the most prominent one; Sasuke Uchiha. While not the heir since he's the youngest of two brothers, he's still something of a genius like his brother before him according to preliminary tests. He would hopefully make an outstanding shinobi. 'I just hope he isn't as gloomy as Itachi is.' Iruka thought.

Then there's Hinata Hyuuga, heiress to the Hyuuga main branch family. Tests indicate she's got skills but is a timid and shy girl. Learning this, Iruka hoped he would get the opportunity to help her get over this or else she might fail as a shinobi, or worse die due to hesitation or lack of skill. 'I'll keep an eye on her and try to find a way to help her overcome that.' Iruka decided, smiling.

Next was the Inuzuka heir, Kiba. His preliminary showed to be the opposite of Hinata, confident of himself and hot-headed, borderline foolhardy. Still, he's also shown to be quite honorable in his own right. 'He's sure to make things... interesting.' Iruka mused.

From the Aburame clan comes Shino. His tests show him to be a quiet person, mysterious and some even call him creepy. Iruka remembered that the Aburame clan utilizes insects for their techniques, though he has yet to familiarize himself with anyone of their clan. 'Now would be an excellent time to do just that.' Iruka observed.

Then there's the sons and daughter of the famous Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Ino Yamanaka, daughter of Inoichi Yamanaka. While this clan isn't as prominent as the other clans, its unique abilities make up for that. They possess the ability to... possess others' minds and either control them or read their memories. Especially useful for interrogation or spying. Ino herself seems to only be able to do the body control aspect of their techniques, though Inoichi may teach her the other one during the academy period.

Next was Shikamaru Nara. Heir to the Nara clan and his father's Shadow Possession jutsu, which allows them to control their own shadows and steer them. Once their shadows connect to other people's shadows they can freeze them and to an extent control their movements. But that isn't really considered to be their main ability. No, the Nara males are known throughout Konoha for their immense intellect. Shikaku, his father, is always called to help with strategic and tactical planning as well as to solve mysteries, usually of the criminal kind. Shikamaru has inherited his father's brain the testers claim. Unfortunately, he has also inherited his father's infamous lazy disposition. 'I think he will be a handful. A passive handful, but a handful nonetheless.' Iruka sighed.

The last of the trio is Chooji Akimichi, heir to the Akimichi clan, and their restaurants. Yes, the clan in famous for their food and their consumption of the same. In their defense, their girth is a part of their techniques, which involves bodily expansion and raw strength. Little can stand, much less stop, a direct hit from their massive limbs. 'According to the testers' observations, he eats snacks almost constantly. That could cause irritation with the other class members, not to mention myself. All due respect to their Clan techniques, I can't allow snacking during class.' Iruka shuddered at the thought of constant munching while trying to speak about various subjects.

Next to last was Sakura Haruno. This girl is not from a ninja clan, though her mother and late father are and were part of the civilian council respectively. 'Among the better people in it I hear' Iruka recalled. According to tests, she has great book-smarts. She may possess considerable knowledge for her age and an affinity for books, but knowledge alone isn't enough for a ninja. 'We'll see how she handles herself in other areas.' Iruka thought.

Finally, Iruka saw a note at the bottom. It mentions a late addition in the academy by the name of Naruto Uzumaki. No tests needed. 'What the hell? No tests' Iruka raised an eyebrow. It was signed by the Hokage himself. 'Well, if the Hokage says so. In terms of surprises, this kid might take the cake for that alone. I'm now very curious to see what this kid is about.' He thought.

He had just finished his thought when the door opened and students started to come in from the corridor. They were gathered outside for a welcome by the Dean himself before the secretary guided each class to their classrooms.

"Alright, everyone who are part of class 1, this is your stop." Came the voice of the secretary.

All of the kids Iruka read about, save Naruto whom Iruka didn't know wasn't among them yet, plus some other students from various civilian families came in and randomly took seats. Iruka could already tell that the female half of the class had chosen their crush. 'This is a record, for sure. They don't usually do that until after a year.' Iruka chuckled in his mind. Their eyes were drawn to the Uchiha. He either hasn't noticed their gazes or didn't let it affect him, Iruka couldn't tell. He had to chuckle again at the irony.

"Hello, class. My name is Iruka Umino and I will be your main teacher for the four years you will be spending in this academy. Before we go any further, let's go ahead and have our first roll call."

He went on to check that all of the civilians' kids were there, it was common practice that civilians were checked first followed by clans and council kids. Clan and council kids who attend the academy are expected to be their out of honor and prestige so the kids themselves are much less expected to try to skip classes than regular civilians. As it turns out later, that presumption was oh so wrong in some cases.

"Aburame Shino." "Here"

"Akimichi Chooji." "I'm [chew] phere" 'Yep, I have to stop that during class.' Iruka sighed inside.

"Haruno Sakura." "Here"

"Hyuuga Hinata." "Oh um... I'm here." 'I have to admit she's cute like that. Sadly, I have to try to work that out.' Iruka smiled at her.

"Inuzuka Kiba." "Hoo yeah, I'm here alright."

"Nara Shikamaru." "It's a drag, but I'm here too." He responded lazily. 'Dammit, Shikaku. He's certainly his father's son.' Iruka thought, annoyed with his attitude already.

"Uchiha Sasuke." "Yeah, I'm here"

"Yamanaka Ino." "Here"

"Okay, well that's should be all of you..."

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Came a voice from everywhere in the classroom. Everyone were startled and looked around for the source.

"Who's there. Show yourself!" Iruka demanded, pulling out a kunai knife from his desk drawer.

"Just check the list again, you missed someone." The voice answered. It was then Iruka remembered the note. Checking again he read out loud.

"Alright. Uzumaki Naruto."

"Here."

"Where here?" Asked Iruka. In reply, Naruto faded into view in front of his desk, facing him. He wore marine blue clothing, just like his sensei for 4 years, Yokai. He wore a marine blue ninja mask, covering all but his cerulean blue eyes. He also had a wakizashi, a short sword, on his back. However, it was a wooden sword, a wakizashi bokken, used for practice.

Iruka, along with the class were astounded at the impressive arrival. Iruka because he didn't recognize the technique and the fact he couldn't sense the student's presence. The others because, aside from the little clan specific techniques taught to them and some simple taijutsu, knew next to nothing about anything shinobi related. Yet here Naruto literally appeared out of thin air. They were all now immensely curious about this guy.

"Right here, Iruka-sensei." Naruto replied with an unseen grin, though everyone heard he wore one.

Shaking off the surprise, Iruka greeted him. "Hello, Naruto. How long have you been in here?"

"Oh, since everyone walked in. I was in fact outside for the welcome by the Dean too." Naruto said.

"Well. That is an impressive jutsu, what's it called?" Iruka queried.

"It's called..." But he stopped himself mid sentence. "Oops. I am sorry, sensei. But my other sensei, who taught me that jutsu, wont allow me to speak about it. You'll have to talk to him about it if you wish to know more."

"If it is a secret, why did you openly use it like this?" Iruka asked, genuinely curious.

Naruto approached Iruka and leaned into his ear. "Sadly, it is a mix of a fear of mine and a possible necessity." Nartuo whispered, somberly.

"What do you mean?" Iruka said.

"Please, let's talk about that later." Naruto said, normally.

"Very well, Naruto take your seat. There should be one or two left." Iruka motioned.

Naruto gave a slight bow and went to take a seat when Iruka said, "Wait, we don't allow masks in class."

"Oh right, I kinda forgot I had it on still." Naruto chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. He then removed it and revealed blond, spiky hair and cheeks with what looked like scars resembling whiskers. After Iruka nodded, Naruto turned to the class and greeted them.

"Hi everyone, nice to meetcha all." He said cheerfully.

Everyone greeted in return, though some more quietly than others, they still were not quite over his entrance. Having seen his face, some girls found him to be quite cute. One in particular found him adorable, but Naruto didn't notice any of that. He went to a free seat next to Kiba and Shikamaru.

"Hey, how's it going?" Naruto said to both.

"Hey, I'm having a troublesome day." Shikamaru replied.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm here." Shikamaru sighed into his arms.

"Heh, well things could be worse, couldn't it?" Naruto tried to cheer him up.

"Maybe." He said, putting his chin on his arms. "I'm Shikamaru." He introduced himself giving a small smile.

"Yeah, I got that from the roll call. Pleased to meet you." Naruto said with a grin. He then turned to Kiba, "And you're Kiba, right?"

"That's me, dude. Hey, awesome entrance by the way." Kiba complimented with a grin of his own.

"Oh yea, thanks. Sorry, but I can't tell much about it. Sensei kinda wants to keep it a secret." Naruto said grinning back.

"Bummer, it looks like a handy jutsu. Hell, neither myself or Akamaru here," He pointed at his puppy partner hanging from his jacket by the zipper. He gave a friendly bark. "could tell that you were here."

"What's so special about... Oh wait, you can smell better than most right?" Naruto said.

"Sure can. We're from a clan that have a partnership with dogs and in some cases wolves." Kiba said proudly.

"Awesome, so can you talk with each other too?"

"Yup, some of them can even speak our language. Though Akamaru has yet to learn that."

"Cool, could I learn to do speak dog?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry, my man. It's a clan secret. Maybe if you earn the clan's trust you can learn it." Kiba said, shrugging.

Before Naruto could continue the conversation Iruka spoke up. He had to sort out his papers some before proceeding, deliberately giving the group some time to chat with one another to break the ice. Though most of the class were not speaking about one another, rather about the spectacular entrance of a certain blonde kid.

"Alright, settle down class. Once again welcome to the ninja academy. As you know, you will receive the basic education and training to achieve the rank of Genin during the course of four years. This first year we will focus on the history of the Leaf Village and the history of the Elemental Nations along with some physical and chakra exercises to prepare for the rigorous tai-, nin- and genjutsu lessons next year." Iruka said.

Meanwhile, at the Hokage's office, Sarutobi was going over the never ending paperwork. In his mind, paperwork is the toughest opponent he's ever faced and the only thing he truly dreads facing, which happens every single day. 'There has to be a way to make this easier to deal with!' Sarutobi yelled in his mind while furiously puffing his pipe.

A laugh shook him from his work frustration. "What? Is something the matter, Sarutobi-dono?" Yokai said, smirking. He knew perfectly well what was irking the Hokage.

"Oh, welcome back, Yokai-dono. Good to see you again. And to answer your question, yes. This never-ending struggle with paperwork is getting on my nerves is all."

"Yes, it is one of the most bitter of battles. One I'm glad to not have to do. Although the Yokaikages from the time when our village and country still was had found a way to aid them in this."

This peaked the Hokage's interest. Hell, it skyrocketed it! "What did they do? Tell me! I beg of you!" The Hokage briefly considered going down on his hand and knees before thinking of his stature and how it would be improper. It was still very much tempting though.

"The answer is simple, quite elementary really." Yokai said, teasing the Hokage.

"Don't keep me in suspense, dammit!" Sarutobi snarled.

"I'm surprised you haven't thought of it yourself already." Yokai said. He loved living dangerously sometimes.

The Hokage leaped over the desk, blowing paperwork all across the room in the process, and grabbed Yokai by the collar. "If you don't tell me this instant, Yokai-dono, there's going to be an incident, most likely of international proportions." Sarutobi growled, but his eyes spoke volumes of his desperation rather than any actual killing intent. Yokai couldn't hold it in any longer, he laughed heartily before finally revealing his 'secret'.

"Sarutobi-dono. Have you ever thought of using clones?" Yokai smirked.

"What are you talking about? Clones can't interact with anything unless they are..." Sarutobi froze mid-sentence. Yokai looked at the old man's face. It went deathly pale from the realization, then blushed furiously as he undoubtedly was ashamed about not having thought about it before and finally sweating as he remembered who he was holding.

"Um... That would work. Excellent suggestion, thank you. And I do apologize for my overreacting and your, um, your collar Yokaikage-dono." He chuckled nervously while letting go of Yokai, then straightening and fixing the mess he made of his collar.

"Hahaha, think nothing of it Hokage-dono. I sort of had it coming." He said reassuringly and grinning widely. 'I bet Naruto's personality has rubbed off on him a little. This would have definitely been something he would've done, not to mention that grin he now has.' Sarutobi thought affectionately.

"Well, I'll start right now. Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

With that, a bunch of smoke puffs appeared, revealing six Sarutobi clones who immediately started on the paperwork.

"Now, while my clones get rid of this mess, why don't we go somewhere and have a chat about Naruto?"

"Sounds good to me. Where will we go?"

Sarutobi smiled fondly, "To Ichiraku's. Since we're gonna talk about Naruto, it's only fitting that we do it in a place where they love him, not to mention having the best ramen in the elemental nations if you believe Naruto himself."


	6. Fire and Shadow

Chapter 5: Fire and Shadow

At the ramen stand, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame were busy with doing inventory. No customers ususally comes between breakfast time and lunch so they do it at this time each day. They were used to Naruto coming at this point since the odds of people bothering him were at the lowest at that time. However, being the unofficial surrogate family of Naruto, they very soon noticed his disappearance. They once briefly considered asking customers but thought better of it since Naruto is so hated and no one either cared or thought they were supporters of him, which was an unnecessary risk to their business when they could ask the Hokage who did sometimes visit for dinner.

After learning the reason behind Naruto's lack of visits, they were happy for him. But like any good family, they missed him and his cheerful attitude quite a lot. Today was no different.

"Dad?" Ayame asked, her voice betraying her state of mind.

"Yes, my princess? Teuchi answered, his own mind mimicking hers, though not as apparent.

"What do you think Naruto's up to? How's he doing?" She asked, smiling a fond smile at remembering him.

"Ah. Knowing Naruto, he's probably giving his training his all and still finds the time to occasionally cause some pranks and other trouble for his sensei." Teuchi laughed. Ayame followed suit.

"You're probably right on the money, dad. But I was thinking, he's been gone for four years. According to what the Hokage said, he should be back anytime now."

"Indeed, Ayame. He should be back soon." Teuchi answered, smiling. Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait a minute..."

"What is it dad?"

"Isn't the academy starting today?" Teuchi asked, his eyes widening a bit.

"Yes, I think so. Why?" Ayame asked. But upon meeting her fathers meaningful look, she caught on. "He could be back today, attending the academy!" She exclaimed happily.

"Yes, meaning we most likely will see him during his lunch break." Teuchi said grinning.

"You are quite right, he is indeed back and attending the academy." Came the familiar voice of the Hokage.

They both turned and saw the Hokage with a marine blue wearing man with brown hair and brown eyes taking seats.

"Welcome Hokage-sama. And who do I have to honor of serving besides yourself?" Teuchi inquired politely.

"The name's Yokai. You must be Teuchi and Ayame." Yokai answered with a warm smile, remembering Naruto and Sarutobi mentioning this kind hearted duo.

"Why yes, we are indeed. We're honored you know of us mere ramen cooks." Teuchi replied genuinely.

"There's nothing 'mere' about a couple of people, no matter their standing or profession, helping out a child in need. Especially for as long as you two have." Yokai stated seriously.

Ayame blushed. "Why, thank you, Yokai-san." She said sheepishly.

Her state and manner of reply wasn't lost to Sarutobi, who chuckled in his mind.

"Now then, I've just returned with Naruto and I am famished. Having Naruto tell me about how great this ramen you cook is, I have to give it a try. What's Naruto's favorite?" Yokai said cheerfully.

"Miso pork ramen." The ramen makers said in unison.

"Hahaha! Miso pork ramen it is then. What will you be having, Hokage-sama?" Yokai asked, he had to refer to Sarutobi as his title and in 'lord' form to hide his own status as a Kage.

"Ah, it happens to be mine as well. Thanks in no small part to that little blond bundle of energy introducing it to me." Sarutobi chuckled.

"Two Miso pork ramen coming right up." Teuchi announced while heading back to his storage in the next room to get the necessities.

"So, how was Naruto's training?" Ayame asked, very curious, though she was more than happy to just listen to this handsome man who aparently liked Naruto as much as she did.

"Indeed, Yokai-san. It is why we're here after all." The Hokage agreed. He too had to use the -san honorific to hide his fellow Kage's status. They both looked forward to the day when it can be revealed openly.

_Flashback no jutsu_

_Time: 6 AK, the night before Naruto's departure_

_Place: The Hokage's office_

"_So, let's set Naruto aside for the moment, Yokai-dono. I would very much like to have our two people be friends and possibly allies. I think both our people will gain a lot from such a relationship." Sarutobi stated, formally but with a smile._

"_Indeed? But as I said before, Hokage-dono, we wont be part of an offensive alliance unless it is for a reason we cannot disagree with, and will take quite the situation I have to say." Yokai said firmly._

"_You do not have to worry, this village don't seek conquest either. And any possible offensive move we make is either for self-preservation purposes or to aid allies in their own defense. And any successor I choose will be of the same mind and heart and so will the successor they choose. Provided that the Hokage line isn't broken and someone else assumes the position through 'special means' or by extraordinary circumstances, this will remains a constant I assure you." Sarutobi said._

"_Those are good arguments, Sarutobi-dono. And from what I've learned so far you seem to be honest and a man of honor and dignity, I believe you. The Village Hidden in the Shadows is prepared to accept trade agreements and are willing to be of aid to you, still provided the reasons are acceptable to us." Yokai said, smiling._

"_That is great to hear. But I have another proposition for you, Yokaikage-dono." Sarutobi said._

"_What is it?"_

"_How would you like to take residence in Fire Country?"_

_Yokai went pale, it would mean they had a place to live and not wander around anymore. Still, it wouldn't be their own country. Living in another people's village is not his idea of reformation either. He was at a loss as to what to do. Finally he said._

"_Hokage-dono, that is a most gracious offer. But our goal is to have a country of our own. Not to impose on another country and live in their village." Yokai said._

"_I know perfectly that living in our village is not possible for you. Frankly it would take immense preparation and adjustment to make room for you here too, not to mention there will be problems with the council and a few certain individuals in particular. But my offer wasn't about you moving here, into our village. It was about taking residence in another area within our country." Sarutobi reassured._

"_Still, it isn't going to be our own country, Sarutobi-dono." Yokai said somberly._

"_I know, but Yokai-dono you have to realize that there is, pardon the expression, no vacancy anywhere for a new country, much less a village. Should a country fall, no matter its size, another will immediately seize it as part of their own, too fast for you to react and make a claim to it. Even if you did claim it, I doubt any country would respect that and chase you out or destroy you, before you're ready to properly defend yourselves, to advance their own agenda." Sarutobi said, somberly._

_Yokai nodded, agreeing with Sarutobi's assessment. He continued._

"_But should you accept my proposal, you will be like a neighboring village, of next to equal power and importance. Any decisions of national or international proportions will include yourselves since you will be like a second half of our own village. Also, since you will be such an important village, and by extension force, it would serve as a deterrent for corruption in my own village since loosing your support would greatly hamper our combined defense. I tell you this because despite the corrupt council and scheming individuals, I can vouch for them in one small way. They 'are' doing it for the betterment of the village as they see it. Twisted, I know, but it's still the truth."_

_Yokai didn't know what to say but listened intently, Sarutobi noticed and decided to let it sink in before he continued._

"_Once your village is built and consequentially is announced by myself, it will shake the very foundation of our society, but in a good way. Any scheming and corruption will be at the very least put on ice, as they will realize that their way of doing things would greatly risk loosing this added support you would provide. Should they be so stupid as to proceed anyway, they'd not only lose your support, but also risking your intervention, whether it be in the national council or in military. Finally, should our village fall for whatever reason and yours remain intact, you will from then on be the village hidden in the leaf, or as I suspect, change the name to the village hidden in the book, in Spirit Country." Sarutobi grinned._

_Yokai felt like fainting. Utterly flabbergasted, he couldn't find the words to say. Everything the Hokage said seemed too good to be true, yet at the same time it made compete sense. After what seemed like an hour, he finally spoke._

"_Hokage-sama." Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at the honorific. "Your diplomatic skills are unparallelled. You've given our people the opportunity to become whole again. The services you mentioned our village can supply with are acceptable and frankly small in comparison to our mutual gain. I, the Yokaikage of the village hidden in the shadows, accept your proposal. We are honored and shall make our home here, as your neighbors." Yokai said, on the verge of tears._

_The Hokage smiled warmy and stood. "The honor is all mine, Yokai-dono." Sarutobi said._

"_Please, Sarutobi-sama. We're going to be neighbors with you being the senior residents." Yokai chuckled. "We will also be loyal to the Leaf as long as you stay in office, with your successors receiving the same respect. Thus we shall address you and said successors with that respect. You and I may be of the same rank, but yours supersedes mine in terms of respect. We are equal, but you have my people's gratitude." Yokai said with a deep bow._

_Now it was Sarutobi's turn to be stunned. "Yokai-dono. There's no need for that, really. Besides, doing that in the open will cause unnecessary complications with people in positions of power."_

"_That may be. But in private conversations you shall have that much, honor and our way of life demands that much at least." Yokai said seriously._

"_Very well. Allow me to welcome you personally as part of the Fire Country." Sarutobi said shaking Yokai's hand._

_Flashback no jutsu, release!_

"Ah, yes. Naruto has performed admirably. He claimed with gusto that he would give it his all when we started our journey. And he most certainly did. His strength and skill level is possibly Chuunin level. Although, due to the unique skills I've taught him he will have a tremendous advantage in combat as his foes will not see them coming, boosting his level to possibly High Chuunin." Yokai said proudly.

"What unique skills are you referring to?" Ayame asked, interested.

"That, beautiful, I cannot reveal. Clan secrets." Yokai said with a smirk and wink.

She briefly giggled involuntarily and tried to hide it with her hand, but failed and blushed furiously. She then realized what he said. "But if it's a clan secret, why did you teach Naruto those techniques?"

"In order to be allowed to be taught these techniques, he must join the clan. And to do that, he has to accept our way of life and the faith we have. After he came of age when he was mature enough to grasp the concepts, I told him about them. Long story short, he accepted." Yokai recounted.

"Wow, I'm curious about you and your way of life now, Yokai-san." Ayame said genuinely as Teuchi came out with the ramen.

"Here we are, two Miso pork ramen. Enjoy!" Teuchi said cheerfully. "I've heard bits an pieces from back there. So Naruto's improved greatly, huh? That makes me happy. But knowing Naruto, he has to have gotten into trouble every once in a while at least?" Teuchi remarked with a smirk.

"You're absolutely correct, Teuchi-san. He loves to perform pranks and sometimes I was the target or I was affected by the fallout of them. Though I get the impression that his pranks outside of the village are different from those he pulled here." Yokai commented, then began to dig in.

"I'm not surprised." Sarutobi remarked, after swallowing his bite. "His pranks were quite humiliating and often complex, especially against the worst of his persecutors. One of his more impressive pranks from his resume was when he managed to land a paint balloon hit one of our more prominent councilmembers, a man named Danzo. His color of choice was, of course, orange. Imagine our predicament when he had to enter an important meeting with the council looking like a human tangerine. Hahahaha!"

Sarutobi laughed, along with Ayame and Teuchi. Yokai laughed too, but since he didn't know the man in any way he didn't laugh as hard.

"But the impressive part is Danzo never actually found out who did it, and he's the man within the village with the best, pfffff, spy network. Hahahaha!" Sarutobi laughed again.

"Wow! That, along with some of the pranks he got off with in our travels, are borderline shinobi level skills then, albeit still Genin level." Teuchi mused with a grin.

"I know, right? I had no doubt in my mind that alone was an indication for his aptitude for sneak attacks, an important shinobi trait." Sarutobi agreed cheerfully. He had to admit it to himself, he quite enjoyed some of the pranks Naruto told him, along with the high-spirited way he told them. It made the old man feel younger.

They chatted away and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. With nothing much to do since his newly found assistance in his shadow clones, Sarutobi suggested they wait for Naruto's inevitable arrival for lunch. They all agreed.


	7. Reunion

Chapter 6: Reunion

The first lesson for the academy students, including Naruto, was not exciting in the least. Some could handle it better and listen while others outright fell asleep only to be roughly awakened by an angry Iruka. While Iruka looked angry, he felt a little sympathy since he remembered how dreadfully boring it was for him at that age. But being older he knew how important it was to learn this along with the actual ninja skills coming up next year.

The subject was, of course, Konoha's history. While anything involving the great shinobi wars made everyone's ears twitch with interest, the rest of how friendly relations were signed and so on and so forth immediately dropped many of said ears.

Naruto, being who he is, was bored. But his sensei, Yokai, had during their travels and sessions managed to make Naruto understand the importance to know history and other things not directly related to his physical training.

_Flashback no Jutsu_

"_Listen, Naruto. Some things you will have to learn are boring for you, especially..."_

"_Especially since I'm only 8 years old. I got it, I got it." Naruto finished, exasperated._

"_Hehe, yes. But as a consolation; you will grow up and come to see just how important it is to know these sort of things, like history."_

"_Sensei, I know and am all for the idea of getting this head start in the academy. But could you explain why it is important, why should I pay so close attention to things, like history?" Naruto asked politely but his apprehension for the subject was showing clearly._

"_Tell me, Naruto, have you heard of "The Will of Fire"?"_

"_Yeah, it's supposed to mean our inner will to fight or something, I like it." Naruto said, smiling._

"_You're only partly right. Well, actually completely right, but you only touched a piece of the whole story." Yokai said._

"_Oh? What more is there then?" Naruto asked, curious._

"_Well, The Will of Fire is indeed about the inner will to fight. But it's about the will to fight to protect your loved ones, like you yourself desire to do." Yokai commented with a wink. "But why is it there? Why do just about everyone in the village get it? Just how strong and meaningful is it?" Yokai finished with a small amount of drama._

"_Alright! I have it then since I want to protect those dear to me with all I got. That's awesome. I didn't really get that until now. Ojii-san didn't fully explain it to me before." Naruto said with pride._

"_That's no doubt to you being a bit too young to understand at the time mixed with his busy schedule." Yokai said. "But you're now old enough to learn more about it."_

"_Finally! I'm old enough to learn something important." Naruto said excitedly._

_Yokai stared at Naruto, who caught on why. "Eh, sorry. Didn't mean to make anything else seem less important." He said sheepishly, rubbing his neck. Yokai chuckled warmly._

"_Anyway, back to the point. Learning the rich history of Fire Country and the Leaf Village along with the other countries history, as you know it anyway, will let you know more of why we as shinobi fight and when the Will of Fire's first spark came to be. All ninja have to know 'why' they fight, Naruto. A ninja without cause to fight is a ninja who will loose heart and make mistakes not to mention desert or get killed if bad enough." Yokai said with absolute seriousness. Naruto nodded, listening intently._

"_Moreover, you will learn in the academy about other things not related to combat. It is important you pay attention to those as well as they will help you stay alive and be an effective ninja guardian." Yokai continued._

"_Like what, sensei?"_

"_For example, basic medicine and first aid. What plants to use for food or field treatment of wounds and not by mistake take poisonous plants and further harm or even kill a fellow ninja. There are sure to be more examples, Naruto. But I hope I have gotten my point across? Nothing of what you will learn is without its use, so I say it once again; pay attention and learn all that you can and you will go far." Yokai finished; "If you find it boring, see it this way. Boredom is a dangerous enemy and you have to overcome it and grow as a ninja."_

_Naruto understood and made up his mind, he would do as his sensei said. It will be partly boring, but he wont go back on his word and give his training and education his all._

_Flashback no jutsu, Release!_

So, being Naruto, he gave this lesson his all and his battle with boredom held it at bay.

"Yo, Naruto." Kiba whispered. "How can you listen to this stuff? It's such a..."

"Draaag." Shikamaru finished.

"Heh, my sensei taught me that everything I will learn in the academy will be useful to know later on. He told me so in a way that I cannot argue with and I promised to give it my all, and I never go back on my word. Believe it!" He whispered back with gusto. He wasn't quiet enough as Iruka heard him.

"Care to share what's so interesting to talk about during class, Naruto?" Iruka said, the underlying order very obvious to all present.

Naruto rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "I'm sorry sensei, I just commented that this is indeed an important lesson, right guys?" Naruto said. Hoping his quick thinking paid off.

"Uh, yeah. Right on, my man." Kiba agreed.

"Sure." Shikamaru answered, not the least giving any effort to make his answer believable.

"Hmm. Since you seem so 'genuinely' interested in this subject, Naruto, why don't you tell me what I've been talking about during this lesson?" Iruka said. He wanted to test Naruto and see if he was telling the truth.

"Sure, Iruka-sensei. You've talked about how each major nation was formed almost 1000 years ago and before that the discovery of our chakra networks and thus our first ninja abilities almost 2000 years ago."

"And?" Iruka tested.

"And you were just now talking about our first Hokage, Hasirama Senjuu and what the founding principles are for our village. Which are Strength, Skill, Knowledge and Compassion."

Iruka was pleased. "Very good Naruto. Now continue to listen and refrain from talking during class, even if it is about how important it is." Iruka said, smiling.

"Will do, sensei." Naruto said with a quick salute.

As quietly as possible, Kiba and Shikamaru whispered to Naruto.

"Hey, thanks for saving our asses, man." Kiba whispered with a grin.

"Yeah. Why did you do something so troublesome when you could've just added us to the explanation?" Shikamaru added.

"Easy, you guys are my friends, right? What are friends for?" Naruto said with a wide smile.

"Yeah. We owe ya. What say we eat lunch somewhere after class? My treat." Kiba offered.

"I am starting to feel peckish actually. I'm in. I will help treat you too, Naruto." Shikamaru said, smiling.

Naruto was howling in joy inside at finding new friends. "Super, I know just the place." Naruto said with a pleased grin.

Later...

"So what is this place we're going to anyway?" Shikamaru said. "If it's much further it's kinda too troublesome to waste energy on for a lunch."

"Lighten up, will ya Shikamaru? The lunch break is long enough for us to get to the other side of Konoha, have lunch and get back before the next lesson starts." Kiba countered.

"That's not the point, it's too much of a drag to go that far for lunch. We could've just gone to the academy's own restaurant. Much less of a hassle." Shikamaru complained a little.

"Don't worry, Shikamaru. It'll be worth it, that's a promise." Naruto said, grinning widely.

"You sure like your promises." Shikamaru observed.

"And I never go back on my word. That's my Nindo, my ninja way." Naruto said, a fist resting on his chest.

"Cool. But aren't you afraid you'll make one promise too many or make one you cannot possibly keep?" Kiba asked.

"If I keep working on the promise till the day I die, it will be alright. But I wont die until I fulfill each one, before that I refuse to die."

"Naruto, that's all well and good but it's also a bit unrealistic. Sometimes things can change out of your control and you can't fulfill a promise. You may not be able to keep it, but it wont be your fault." Shikamaru said.

"The brainiac is right, man. You should not be so carefree with promises, especially since it's your Nindo."

Naruto had to admit they had made good points. "Alright, you might be right. I'll make promises with more care."

"Good, you'd be in too big of a drag should you make a promise you'd not be able to keep and it would literally be too troublesome to get out of." Shikamaru said. "Hey, Kiba."

"What's up?"

"Don't call me a brainiac." Shikamaru said with annoyance.

"Why not? Isn't that basically you in a nutshell?"

"It's a crude description of me and it may give a wrong impression to others."

"What do you mean? Aren't you the smart one of us all? Son of Konoha's greatest brainiac?" Kiba asked, confused.

"[sigh] Maybe that's true but I don't want to be looked upon as such, it will cause me too much work in the long run. Explaining being one of them. What a drag that would be." Shikamaru said.

Naruto had to stifle his laugh at their antics.

"Whatever you say, brainiac. How about we just call you Shika from now on. Would that be alright?" Naruto offered.

"If you must give me a nickname then that one is good enough." Shika agreed.

Turning to Kiba with a sly grin, Naruto said, "I don't suppose mutt would work for you?"

"What the..." Kiba then punched at Naruto, who promlty ducked and ran away laughing. "Get back here you smart-ass!" Kiba took off.

"Kiba, it was just a joke, I wouldn't call you that for real!" Naruto said, still laughing while running around.

"Joke or not, you're gonna pay for that!" Kiba said angrily, but he was grinning too. Akamaru barked in excitement as he too gave chase.

"... Troublesome." Shika sighed.

Kiba, being trained in speed caught up to Naruto soon. Though Naruto kinda wanted to wrestle a bit anyway so he let him catch up finally. But as they were about to wrestle Naruto saw it.

"We're here!" Naruto exclaimed happily.

"Where?" Kiba asked, freezing just as he had a headlock on Naruto.

"Ichiraku's!" Naruto pointed to the ramen stand.

"Ramen, huh? I've not had much of that before to be honest." Shika commented. "Are they good?"

"Good? They're the best in the elemental nations!" He exclaimed.

"Naruto, you can't claim that unless you've been around the nations and tried theirs first." Shika said with a sigh.

"Ah, but you forget. I have been around. Not everywhere perhaps, but I've still been around and no other ramen cooks compare to old man Teuchi." Naruto said with pride.

"Sweet. Shall we get to it then?" Kiba said, drool forming in his mouth.

They entered, and found none other than Yokai and Sarutobi along with the cooks.

"Hey! It's Naruto, he's back father!" Ayame shouted towards the back happily.

"Naruto? Naruto! Hey, son. Good to see you back with us." Teuchi welcomed Naruto with a big grin.

"Ayame-neechan, Teuchi-jiisan. So good to see you guys too!" Naruto said happily.

Ayame couldn't help it, she had to run outside and embrace Naruto in a hug.

"Oooh, little brother. I missed you so." She said happily. Naruto was stunned by this a bit, but in a pleasant way. She had never called him her little brother before, even though he felt a sibling relationship with her and called her big-sis.

"So have I, but now I'm back." He said affectionately. "And ready as ever to eat some RAMEN!" He shouted enthusiastically, much to the amusement of the rest.

"But take my friends' order first, please old man." Naruto said

He took their orders and the boys shared the pay for Naruto as promised.

"How many bowls, Naruto?" Came Teuchi's voice.

"I'd say about seven bowls, I haven't eaten ramen for a long time and I plan to make up for it."

"Right away."

"Seven bowls?" Kiba said utterly stunned. 'This is seriously gonna hurt my allowance.' Kiba thought.

"Sweet Kami! Are you trying to compete with Chooji?" Shikamaru asked, who was a long time friend of the rotund boy.

"That fat guy? No. I just love ramen is all. I've always had an appetite in general." Naruto chuckled.

"Oi oi, you'd better not call him fat, Naruto. He's very sensitive about that. Once he went berserk on a group of kids who called him that and they spent the rest of the day getting their injuries healed in the hospital." Shika said.

"So he's strong too, cool. I like him already. I wont call him that in front of him. I judge people by who they are, not what they are." Naruto said. Other than Kiba and Shika, the others caught the underlying meaning.

"Good. But if you always had such an appetite, how come you're not as... big boned as Chooji." Shika said. 'Man if I knew that he would eat as much as him I'd have rethought my offer.'

"Heh, I dunno. Plenty of exercise I suppose." Naruto offered.

"Must be, man. If I didn't know for a fact that you're a guy and ten years old, I would've thought you were eating for two, as my mother said once to a pregnant lady." Kiba said. To which the boys laughed.

But the others' laughter were half-hearted, which the boys didn't catch. The comment about eating for two had a deeper meaning than Kiba could've imagined. The two Kages didn't know if the beast affected Naruto's appetite nor if it truly was of importance to know that, but Naruto did indeed carry a second being inside him.

"Oh, pardon me guys. Kiba, Shikamaru, meet Yokai-sensei, whom I traveled with and learned from before coming to the academy," Yokai greeted with a wave and a smile. "Hokage-jiisan," Sarutobi chuckled at his ever present 'honorific' from the blond boy and waved to them. "And old man Teuchi and big-sis Ayame." The cooking duo greeted with smiles and nods.

"Sweet. Pleased to meet you four." Kiba grinned and gave a two finger salute.

"Hey." Shika said, smiling. But then went wide eyed as he realized, "Did you just call the Hokage 'grandpa'." To which Kiba also went saucer eyed.

"Sure, he's one of my precious people." Naruto said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The Hokage couldn't help but laugh.

"It's alright boys, Naruto and I go back." Sarutobi said.

"But how does he know you so well, Hokage-sama." Shika said, all ears for once.

"I came across him when he was an orphaned baby boy. Despite my ninja training I couldn't just let go of him and made sure personally to take care of him. Of course not in my own house as I am an old man and a busy one at that. I put him in an orphanage and kept an eye on him from time to time with visits." Sarutobi said. It wasn't a lie, technically. He just left out sensitive information.

"Wow, you know the Hokage personally, Naruto? You're a guy who's just full of surprises, aren't you, dude." Kiba commented. Naruto chuckled sheepishly and once again gave his trademark rub of his neck.

"Hmm? What do you mean full of surprises?" Yokai asked. Naruto now caught on, he wasn't sure if his sensei would like what was coming, but let it happen since he would've told him anyway.

"Yokai-dude, Naruto showed up in class in the most awesome way. He appeared out of thin air and none of us, not even Iruka-sensei, could tell he was in the room throughout the roll call. And that everywhere voice of his, totally awesome stuff." Kiba told.

"Yeah, that was something to see I admit." Shika added with visible interest.

"Did he now?" Yokai smiled, but Naruto could tell he was in trouble.

"Sure did. Too bad it's not something he can talk about. That would've been awesome to learn." Kiba finished.

"Yes, awesome indeed." Yokai said, smiling. He then shot a brief glare of disappointment at Naruto.

"Here's your ramen, gentlemen. Eat in good health!" Teuchi said.

They did just that and chatted away until it was time to head back. But Yokai grabbed Naruto's arm.

"Not so fast, Naruto." Yokai said with a hint of anger only Naruto knew how to hear. "You boys go on ahead, he'll catch up!"

"Can't it wait, sensei? I have to get to class." Naruto said with a nervous grin.

"Oh, I bet you're eager to get back to class," He said with sarcasm. "but we have something to talk about."


	8. Reasons

Chapter 7: Reasons

Naruto sighed and took his seat once again besides Yokai. Sarutobi had a serious look, he didn't exactly know what this was all about, but he had an idea. Yokai was now showing an angry look.

"Naruto, I thought I told you to not use your special techniques until after the academy. Why did you go and show off one of them like that from the get go?" Yokai demanded.

Naruto shifted a little as he answered. "I am sorry, sensei. It wasn't meant as a show off, although it did look like it."

"Sorry doesn't quite cut it right now, I want an explanation." Yokai said, a bit more irritated.

Naruto now looked down onto the table. He felt a mix of defeat, regret and frustration.

"Sensei, I felt I had to do it. Like I had no real choice." Naruto said with regret clear in his voice.

Yokai relaxed a bit. He didn't anticipate that response. Hearing that it was the truth, he relaxed a bit to allow Naruto to feel a little more at ease as he asked him to go on.

"Well, here's the thing; I am not liked at all in this village. Pretty much every adult despises me and either shuns me or outright attacks me on sight."

"We know this already, Naruto." Yokai said.

"Yokai-san, please let him finish." Sarutobi asked calmly.

Naruto gave a nod of thanks to Sarutobi and continued, "Knowing how every adult would react to my presence, I thought it best to remain out of sight from the dean as he welcomed all those students gathered outside of the academy. I figured that if I showed myself there would be trouble from the dean, even if Ojii-san himself sent a letter ordering him to allow me inside. He might've tried to goad me into making a mistake, giving him a reason to delay my entry or worse. All this in front of the other kids would make me look very bad."

Naruto swallowed and spoke further, "So I decided to hide myself from them all until I got into class. As I walked in I noticed the teacher, Iruka-sensei. I of course knew that the teacher would be a grown up, but I was still feeling a bit scared to reveal myself. During the roll-call, I noticed that there were kids that obviously annoyed him and for good reasons, but he didn't let it show. That gave me some hope that he wasn't as discriminating as other adults."

"I let things go as far as the end of the roll-call, which is when I also noticed he forgot to call my name. That's when I announced myself, asking him to call out the last name, my name. And when he did, I appeared and the rest is history. It may have looked like a show off, and I admit it felt good doing it, but I also think it was a better choice to impress than to make a bad first impression with the dean." Naruto finished.

Yokai had to admit, Naruto had made valid arguments and reasons for his actions. "Alright, Naruto. But there must've been questions, what was the teacher's reaction?"

"Yes, there was. But I didn't answer them, I said if they had any questions they should come to you. Which I honestly don't think anyone will, seeing as you're going to be somewhat hard to find, eh sensei? And the teacher's reaction to my appearance was as you might imagine, stunned. But I can gladly say he didn't seem prejudicial towards me." Naruto told.

"Very well, Naruto. I suppose under the circumstances it was for the best and the damage seems minimal. But from this point until you've become a Genin, you're to not use those techniques unless I give permission. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" Yokai asked.

"Crystal, sensei." Naruto saluted, grinning for being left off the hook. He then had a thought. "Uh, sensei, what about that taijutsu style you've taught me? Can I use it for sparring?"

"It's not really anything secret, go ahead. Just don't use moves you're not comfortable with yet, we still have to work on them as well as the transitional moves." Yokai replied.

"Alright, can I go now, sensei? I will be late otherwise."

"Go. And have a good day at the academy." Yokai smiled.

"Sweet. See you later, sensei. Bye Ojii-san, Teuchi-san and Ayame-neechan." Naruto called back as he ran.

Yokai turned to Sarutobi. "It's a sad thing to admit, but his reasons were valid from where I stand."

"Indeed, Yokai-san. I did send a letter, ordering the dean to allow him inside the academy like the rest of the students. But he's also known for being one of the people to persecute Naruto on occasion, though not as... zealously as others. I wouldn't put it past him to have tried to hinder Naruto's progress, which he still might. Naruto wont have a rosy time at the academy I fear." Sarutobi said, puffing his pipe occasionally.

"What can we do, Hokage-sama?" Yokai asked, looking down at nothing in particular.

"Until the dean or anyone else in the academy, save the students, attempts anything, nothing. I can only take preventative measures once I have legitimate reason to do so, sadly." Sarutobi sighed.

"What if they go about sabotaging Naruto in more subtle ways, it is a ninja academy after all?"

"You are right. And if found out there is no way to prove who did it. Hmm... Maybe we can help Naruto overcome such tampering."

"How so?"

"Well, they can't do much about his sparring and kunai and shuriken practices. Even if they did it would be too obvious and risk being found out. No, the best way to sabotage would be to tamper his written tests or his reading material with genjutsus. Have you taught him to dispel genjutsus yet, Yokai-san?"

"Not yet. I did say we would get to it once I saw that he's gotten to a stage where he can understand it. I haven't seen that yet."

"But you could've at least taught him to dispel genjutsu?" Sarutobi asked, surprised.

"He wanted to focus all his attention to taijutsu and ninjutsu as well as those I had to teach him when the time came. With him showing no aptitude for genjutsu yet, I thought the dispel part could wait. I realize that was a mistake now." Yokai admitted with regret.

"Well, it wont take long to teach that. Dispelling a genjutsu is much easier to do than creating one, especially the low rank ones which are undoubtedly going to be used in the academy."

"I will get to teaching him right after he finished for the day." Yokai said, determined.

"Good. Well, I guess I ought to get back to my office, the clones dispelled a minute ago since their tasks are complete. And I should be there if something 'important' happens." Sarutobi sighed.

"Wait, what about this Iruka character? Is he someone to entrust with Naruto's education?" Yokai asked, worriedly.

"I know Iruka personally, why do you think I put Naruto in his class?" Sarutobi smiled reassuringly. "He is a victim of the Kyuubi attack years ago, his parents died in the defense of Konoha when he was little older than Naruto. But I've seen him move past his grief, much further than the villagers have. In talks I've had with him I've come to see that he's a good man and that he doesn't blame Naruto personally for the incident." Sarutobi said.

"'Doesn't blame Naruto personally'? It sounds as if there's something more, Hokage-sama."

"I said he's moved past his grief, not forgotten it or the cause of it. He's the best candidate for Naruto's academy teacher, but I have no doubt he will have some internal struggle still. But, as I said, I know Iruka and I have faith in his ability to teach without prejudice and to see the truth in time." Sarutobi said.

"Very well, but I will keep an eye on him if it's all the same to you, Hokage-sama." Yokai said.

"Fine, but don't interfere unless absolutely necessary, which I believe it will not be. See you around, Yokai-san."

Sarutobi took his leave and as he walked he mentally prepared himself for any onslaught of council matters that was waiting to ambush him when he got back.

Yokai sat in silence, contemplating how to best help Naruto besides the genjutsu dispelling. He was shaken out of his thoughts when Ayame spoke to him.

"I'm sorry, Ayame-san, what?" Yokai said.

She giggled silently. "I asked if you've been taken on a tour around the village?"

"Actually, I've only been here once before and back then it was a brief visit. I suppose I should now, considering..." Yokai said, looking around in thought.

"Considering you're gonna stay and help with Naruto's training?" Ayame finished with a smile, she was glad he was going to stick around, and not just for Naruto's sake.

'That and the fact that my people will very soon have all gathered to start building our village. I need to stay close as the Yokaikage.' Yokaikage thought. "Indeed, Ayame-san." He smiled.

"Well, I am due for my break and I could take you on that tour if you would like, Yokai-kun." Ayame offered with a beautiful grin.

"Why, I would love to, Ayame-san." Yokai agreed. He then did a double-take in his mind at the suffix. 'Kun?'

Ayame told her father she was going out for her break and would be back later. She came out of the back door and went around to meet Yokai at the front in her regular clothes. Yokai was surprised to see that despite wearing plain clothing, she made it look very good.

He shook it off and asked with a sly smile, "Well, Tour-guide-san, which way shall we go first?"

Ayame giggled loudly. "This way, Tourist-san." She replied with a matching smile.

Back at the academy, Naruto came back just in time for class to start.

"Glad to see you wouldn't be late for the second lesson on your very first day, Naruto." Iruka winked. Naruto made his trademark sheepish grin and rub as he took his seat as a few students, mostly female, stifled their laughter.

"I didn't mean to make it such a close call, Iruka-sensei. My other sensei held me up for a bit."

"I know, Kiba told me about that. Had you come a little late it wouldn't have been a problem. Now, for your next lesson, we'll talk about recent and current relations between all the great elemental nations." Iruka announced.

Kiba whispered to Naruto as the lesson began and Iruka started to point at the big nations on the map.

"Good to see you back in time, dude. What was that all about back there anyway?"

"Thanks, Kiba. And sorry, Sensei-Student confidentiality prevents me from divulging that information." Naruto answered, trying to sound like an exaggerating psychiatrist.

"Heh. Geez, Naruto. I didn't know you had those big words in your vocabulary." Kiba remarked. He was surprised but tried to sound teasing to hide that fact. He barely knew what the words meant himself.

"Hey, just because I'm ten doesn't mean I can't know stuff." Naruto said indignantly through the corner of his mouth.

"Whatever." Kiba smirked, glad he didn't come out as not knowing what it meant.

"You, on the other hand, I can see no reason how you could know." Naruto said nonchalantly.

"What?"

"Well, you're still just a puppy in dog years, aren't you?" He said with a sly grin.

"Why you..." Kiba growled. Akamaru, on the other hand, looked amused.

"Kiba, heel. Naruto, be quiet. We don't want to end up in trouble because of your bickering." Shikamaru whispered sternly. "Do you have any idea how big of a drag detention is?"

"Sorry." They both mumbled and started listening to the lecture.

Two girls right in front of the trio had heard the entire exchange and were fighting to suppress their giggles. They, too, were surprised with Naruto's knowledge of those words and both were amused with Naruto's responses to Kiba's teasing.

The girl right in front of Naruto whispered to the one to her right, who was in front of Kiba.

"How about that? Naruto's cute, skilled AND seems to be smart."

"Yeah, but he has ways to go before he can measure up to Sasuke-kun." The other girl replied.

"I dunno, Sakura. Sasuke-kun is handsome for sure, but we know next to nothing about him otherwise."

"We've barely started the academy so we have plenty of time to find out more about Sasuke-kun. Oh and about Naruto too, I suppose." Sakura replied.

"You're saying handsome at this point outweighs cute, skilled and smart?"

"Ino, there's a whole bunch of guys here that are either cute, skilled or smart or a combination of those. But Sasuke-kun is the only handsome guy here, I'm not giving up on him that easily." Sakura said.

Ino sighed. "Yeah, I just hope your reasoning doesn't come back to bite you in your next to non-existent ass."

"What did you say?" Sakura said louder than she should have.

Iruka turned and said. "I said that Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village) at present poses no threat but a grudge is presumed to be still present in their leadership at least. Don't worry, I don't think we're gonna be in a war with anyone anytime soon, Sakura." He finished with a confident smile.

He then turned to continue. Ino couldn't help but giggle into her hand before whispering. "I can't believe your luck, Sakura. He thought you were worried about Iwagakure."

Sakura heaved a breath of relief. "Tell me about it. But don't think for a second I am gonna let that one slide, Ino." She said with a glare.

Ino waved it off. She knew her and Sakura's friendship wasn't the best at the moment, but Sakura couldn't hold a grudge over something like that, despite her threats to the contrary. Added to that, Sakura's infatuation with Sasuke almost always shrouds anything else in her mind soon enough.

Ino herself was also quite taken with Sasuke's looks. But before it could develop into a true infatuation rivaling that of Sakura's, she saw Naruto's entrance. Ino, admiring looks and smarts, had made up her mind to inspect Naruto as well as Sasuke.

On the front row and to Naruto's left, sat a girl with lavender eyes which had no pupils as far as anyone else could tell. She had dark hair and a tan jacket. She appeared to be listening to the lecture, which she actually was. But, due to the Hyuuga's ability to multitask (using their eyes' ability at the same time as any other task), Hinata was able to both listen and use her Byakugan (All Seeing Eye) to look at a blonde boy she found incredibly cute.

'Naruto Uzumaki. What a handsome name.' She thought to herself with a smile. 'I never knew your name before now, Naruto.'

Before Naruto's journey with Yokai, Hinata had spied on Naruto. The reason was that she couldn't help but feel drawn to his sheer determination and perseverance (though she didn't know those words back then), despite all the harassment the villagers put him through. She herself was a girl with low self-esteem and poor confidence and she was fascinated by how Naruto could take it all, not to mention she was curious as to why everyone called him hideous names like 'demon' and 'cursed child' but never his real name.

Each time the Hokage came into the picture she didn't dare to stick around, afraid of being caught. But she did know that he was at that point in good hands and feeling better. She couldn't stick around either when Naruto was going to eat at Ichiraku's since it was around eating time for her too and she herself had to be at her estate so as to not be missed, thus she missed hearing his name. She thought about asking others but seeing all the hatred towards him she didn't dare to. She did ask about what the people meant with their foul name calling, to which her caretakers or family simply said it isn't something for her to worry about.

Now, she finally had no one or nothing to keep her from getting to know him, no reason at all.

'I should get to know him better now that we're in the same class. Oh Kami, how should I do it? He's seems so strong and confident, and is so handsome. I can't stand for long if I get close to him, I just know it.' She thought, exasperated.

Except maybe that...

Some of the other girls in class were either having similar thoughts or were in quiet discussions regarding either Sasuke or Naruto and reasons to like either. The two in question were blissfully unaware of their admirers. Unaware of their unspoken competition.


	9. Training And Protection

Chapter 8: Training And Protection

Yokai and Ayame were on the final part of the tour of the village. So far the locations of notable interest has been the market district, the ninja district, which has the estates of each clan, at least those clans that has estates, the Hokage tower and the top of the monuments. Of course, Yokai was already familiar with the tower and the monuments but hadn't had the time to see each clan estate or the market district and what it can offer.

They were on their way to see each training ground before it became too late and she'd have to return to the evening shift when they came across a restaurant with apparently the best dango in the village. Present there was the restaurant's most loyal customer, Anko Mitarashi.

She turned around and saw the stranger with the ramen waitress. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the ramen princess." She greeted with a grin, which easily could be misread as an insidious one.

"Anko. Why am I not surprised to see the snake mistress hanging around the Shinobi Retreat?" Ayame replied, wearing a similar grin. Yokai could tell they had some sort of history.

"I can go without dango as much as Naruto can go without his ramen." She admitted without shame. "And who might this be?" She glanced at Yokai.

"Anko Mitarashi, meet Yokai. Yokai, this is Anko Mitarashi, also called the Snake Mistress of Konoha."

"Ghost, huh? If I was anyone else I would say that is an odd name, but cool nonetheless." She commented with a sly smile.

"Wait a second, 'Snake Mistress'?" Yokai queried.

"Yeah, my specialty in combat is utilizing snake summons, anything from small snakes to medium sized summons. The biggest ones are reserved for my ex-sensei, Orochimaru. Heard of that bastard?" She said, spitting the name as if it was poison.

"Can't say that I have, though he sounds like a bad guy by your description of him."

"'Bad guy'? You are way too nice about him. He's one of Konoha's legendary Sannin, the great three ninja who once battled Hanzo of the Salamander to a draw, the only ones out of countless others to manage that much. Now, Orochimaru is a rouge ninja with a taste for the truly sick and evil, and that's the short version. It is no wonder you never heard of him, he's masterful in keeping himself hidden in whatever he does."

"I have heard of the Sannin, though only in passing and didn't catch any names. Oh, pardon my manners. I am pleased to meet you, Anko-san."

"Hmm, handsome and polite. But that cannot be all about this guy that fascinates you, is it Ayame?" Anko winked.

Ayame blushed furiously and replied indignantly, "He's a guest in our village and Naruto-kun's sensei for four years. He hasn't had the chance to enjoy our village's sights so I took him on a tour."

"Naruto's sensei? So that's why he's been missing for so long." Anko said with widened eyes. She then approached Yokai. "And just what have you done with Naruto-kun all this time, mister?" She said in a mock protective tone.

"Why, training him to help him gain a head-start in the academy." He replied calmly. 'For one.' he then thought.

"Really? And just how good has he gotten? And who gave you that right, Yokai-san?" Anko demanded somewhat seductively.

"Anko! That's not the way to behave towards a guest of Konoha." Ayame chided.

"Maybe not, but this guest has taken it upon himself to teach little Naruto about the ways of the ninja. And I, for one, want to make sure he's done a good job about it. If not, there will be... consequences." Anko replied with a dead serious tone.

"I assure you, Anko-san, Naruto has learned much and is already high Genin if not into Chuunin level. And the Hokage himself gave me the right if you must know, but more I cannot say at this time." Yokai said, unfazed.

'Hmm, he's not so easily intimidated by me, interesting.' Anko mused. "And just what makes Naruto so good?"

"I can't go into certain details, but his taijutsu is not to mess around with for his age and his ninjutsu is on par at the very least. If you'd like to know more, why not ask or better yet try him out yourself?" He suggested, knowing or at least hoping Naruto wouldn't show off his secret abilities.

"Excellent suggestion, I might just follow up on that." She said in a sly tone.

'This... lady is something else.' Yokai thought. "Pardon me, Anko-san, but why do you show such interest in the boy?"

For the first time, Anko looked quite normal and serious. "Because he and I share a similar past, though he doesn't know me that well. Things have... prevented me from getting to know him better, not to mention protect him better." She finished with clear regret.

"Ah, so you are one of Naruto's supporters? That is good to hear. Now that he's back maybe you can rectify the past lack of friendship? Right now he's at the academy but should finish for the day in an hour or two. You should find him and introduce yourself after that." Yokai said with a genuine smile.

"Yeah... I think I will." Anko said with a smile, this time quite beautiful. She then looked back at Ayame and then Yokai, and her appearance changed to that of something... sinister?

"Say, where are the two of you going?"

"We're going to see the final sights, which are the training grounds I believe?" Yokai said.

"Is that so? Ayame, I think it is high time I took over this tour from here. Since you know next to nothing concerning ninja training anyway, you should just saunter along back to your ramen stand." She stated nonchalantly as she grabbed Yokai's free arm and dragged him along.

Ayame was furious as she held her grasp on Yokai, who was sweating profusely beneath his garb.

"Like hell you will, Anko. This is my tour and I will finish it, thank you very much. Don't you have some poor, unfortunate spy to slither back to so you can interrogate him?" Ayame said through clenched teeth.

"Why, Ayame, I didn't know you had it in you." Anko said in mock surprise.

"Wait a second. You're the village's interrogator?" Yokai asked.

"Not the main one, that would be Ibiki. You could say I am his main assistant." She said with a proud smile. "With his method being almost purely mental torture, mine is physical."

"You sound as if you... enjoy your work." Yokai said, with a hint of apprehension.

"Isn't that preferable then hating it, especially since it is necessary in our day and age." She said wistfully.

Yokai, while seeing her point, couldn't fathom enjoying to causing someone pain. It's one thing if you encounter truly evil people, they deserve punishment and there's little wrong in bringing it about, nor was it to enjoy it if you felt so. But knowing how the ninja system works, interrogators are not sent on missions as often as others due to their skill of extracting information from prisoners, Yokai wondered if it was warranted to enjoy torturing prisoners who cannot defend themselves.

On the other hand, maybe there is enough reason since it is for the protection of the village. The fact that if a normal, sane person were doing such things for any extended period of time would go mad is another argument for having someone who… doesn't mind.

In short, Yokai was torn. He hadn't really had any reason to contemplate on these matters in detail before. The girls were too much into their bickering to notice this, perhaps to his benefit.

Neither of the ladies would let him go and thus they both showed the training grounds and added their own thoughts, which usually ended up with snide comments against the other. All the while Yokai just smiled and nodded and the occasional "I see". He felt more like getting out of there and find someplace to relax after being tugged on and dragged across the village and the paths leading to each training ground. Not to mention being in the crossfire of two angry ladies is a rather, exhausting experience in itself.

Finally, they were back inside the village and Ayame insisted they walk all the way back to her ramen restaurant.

"Oh is that what you call it now, ramen princess? Last I checked it was still a stand. You'd need a tad more space for customers and perhaps more than two chefs to cook for that to be applicable." Anko teased.

"It will one day, I'm just getting into the spirit of it." Ayame said with pride. "At least my food is gaining appreciation, which is more than I can say about those balls on a stick you seem to enjoy, snake mistress."

Before Anko could retort Yokai chimed in. "Oh my, would you look at that, ladies. Naruto is about to finish the academy for today. Anko-san, perhaps it is time to go meet with him as I suggested before?"

Realizing that it was indeed time for Naruto to finish for the day. She also realized she hadn't taken the time to think of how to go about things, making her completely miss the fact that Yokai wanted to escape his 'captives'.

Ayame was about to agree with Yokai when she realized that it is about the same time her evening shift started and she had to hurry back or she'll be late. After saying some hurried goodbyes, Yokai was left alone at last. He let out a breath he seemed to have been holding the entire time from when Anko came into the picture as he leaned against a wall in the street.

"Kami have mercy, I have never been in a situation like that before. I pray I don't have to go through that again." He said quietly to himself, somewhat shaken.

A block away, two women were walking towards a pet food store, sporting fang-like face paints, one on each cheek. One stopped and asked while sniffing the air.

"Mother, do you smell that?" She asked.

"Hmm. Yes, Hana. It smells like..." The mother began, trailing off.

"Fear." Hana finished, confused.

Later at the Hokage tower. Yokai was walking through the corridor leading to the office of Sarutobi. He arrived at the door when he heard a somewhat spirited discussion inside. He stood outside waiting to enter when they were done, but his curiosity got the better of him and he used an unspoken jutsu to increase his hearing. The first words he heard already irked him to no end.

"The demon brat is back in the village. You must take measures to make sure he remains within its walls, Hokage-sama." Said one voice, that of an elderly woman.

"She's right," Another one, an elderly man, spoke. "Naruto is a tremendous security risk. On one hand he might go berserk one day and annihilate us all, on the other we risk every day at least one of our enemies finding out about him being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and come to capture him for their own purposes. Him being outside our village, and for that long to boot, was far too dangerous and should never be allowed to happen again."

A third unfamiliar and creepily collected voice then added. "As you can clearly see, Hokage-sama, the arguments are quite valid and should be acted upon accordingly. Or better yet, I can provide the necessary means to hold the Kyuubi in for good and make him a fine asset to our village."

Yokai was livid and was, against his better judgment, about to burst in and give them a piece of his mind when he heard Sarutobi respond.

"Valid arguments, you say?" His voice was clearly angry. "Naruto has suffered countless attempts at his life or at least his health and property and he has yet to come even remotely close to triggering anything regarding the beast inside of him. That tells volumes of his strong and durable, if not FORGIVING character!" He roared at the end, surprising even Yokai.

"That should tell you that he wont harm anyone from our village, as himself or as the Kyuubi. We also have Jiraiya coming here from time to time and he will check his seal to make sure it stays in pristine condition. Not to mention should he ever loose his control, for any reason, we have the means to subdue him before it gets out of hand." He said still angry but still in control. He then continued.

"As for the international risk, let me remind you that having a Jinchuuriki present in our village is a deterrent in itself, as they all know we have one just as we know about them having at least one. They don't know who it is and that shall remain so. Losing Naruto would mean a severe blow to our international standing militarily, that much is true. Which is why we should take better care of him instead of more or less leaving him to his own devices, as you all have been too happy to do." Sarutobi said.

"Ah, then you agree that Naruto should be properly trained and protected?" The collected man said.

"Absolutely, but don't think for a moment that I don't know where you are headed with this, Danzo. Naruto has and is still being trained so that is no concern of yours. The fact he can now defend himself from civilian harassment eliminates any risk from there. As for outside threats, the fact Naruto's now a shinobi in training grants me the option of assigning extra security detail for him should I deem it necessary, which it is. ANBU will keep an eye on him when he's outside of the academy until he gets put into a team."

"Hokage-sama, who was it that trained the boy?" The third man queried.

"Someone I trust as a shinobi and as a person. That is all you need to know, Danzo. That goes for you two as well."

"But Hokage-sa…" The elderly woman started but was interrupted by a stern and obviously angry

Sarutobi.

"That will be all. Leave me."

They left and were in a sour mood, Yokai could tell as they passed by him. They apparently didn't take not of him as he must've looked like an off-duty ANBU.

Yokai then entered. Sarutobi's face lit up upon seeing him.

"Ah, Yokai-dono. What can I do for you?"

"I just came by to tell you something. I've just now gotten word by messenger bird."

"Oh, what is it?"

"It has begun."


	10. Foundations And Friendships

Chapter 9: Foundations and Friendships

"What do you mean? What has…" Sarutobi started. But realization dawned upon the aging man as he remembered something. "Oh wait, you're telling me that the construction of the village has begun, right?"

"Correct. Two thirds of my people have arrived and begun the necessary construction of the foundations until all are gathered and can begin the real work." Yokai reported.

"Need any assistance in any way?"

"Thank you, but we're doing good so there's no need. I couldn't help but overhear your discussion while I was waiting outside, Sarutobi-dono. Or, to be honest, I overheard what it was about and decided to listen in."

Sarutobi's face immediately looked sourer. "Yes, them three are my main source of headaches. They either want to kill him or put heavy, unreasonable restrictions on Naruto or even worse make a mindless killing machine 'loyal' to Konoha out of him. None of which I will allow in my lifetime. Hopefully by the time I won't be Hokage anymore Naruto will be old enough to take care of himself and not still be underage of certain laws that would put him in such 'care'."

"That creepily collected individual, who was he?"

"Danzo. Also known as the 'old warhawk'. Me and him go way back, in a not so good way. He's sort of always been a rival of mine in pretty much anything related to shinobis. He runs an underground force of special ANBU called ROOT which are tasked, without consent of the Hokage, to deal with matters of security and most likely other things as well I don't think I would like to know. It's a group long since forbidden to exist but no one can prove that it exists, much less if he's the head of it. They are just too damn good at covering their tracks. No one, save ROOT themselves, can distinguish a normal ANBU from a ROOT one."

Yokai was not happy to hear about that. "Is Naruto in any danger?"

"At the moment he should be alright, but keeping a protective eye out for him never hurts."

"Right. Anyway, our preliminary estimates puts us at finishing our construction of our village at about 3 years from now. But one never knows how delayed stuff can get."

"Right, so where exactly are you constructing?"

"We decided to follow your recommendation and build here, just a few miles from the coastline."

Yokai pointed to a place south, southeast of Konoha, close to the coast. It wasn't near any village or other known settlement but still relatively comfortable distance to Konoha, about a half a day's travel by full shinobi speed or a day and a half for non-shinobi.

"Excellent. It will be a breathtaking day for everyone once this is announced upon its completion." Sarutobi commented. Yokai nodded with a grin.

Meanwhile…

Naruto's final lesson for the day had just come to a close. He exited the academy doors and was heading for home, pleased with such a wonderful start to the academy. He failed to notice the surprised and disgruntled look of the dean as he noticed him leaving. But the dean knew he could do little at this point. That didn't stop him from already scheming and planning ways to foil Naruto's efforts at learning.

Naruto also failed to notice a girl with lavender colored eyes following him for a bit before heading for her clan's estate. What he did notice was the presence of a shinobi on the rooftops somewhere behind him. This shinobi had followed him for a bit and seemed agitated. Presuming this is another spiteful shinobi who's about to 'welcome' him home, he decided to confront his stalker.

So, he suddenly made a swift jump and landed in front of the stalking ninja. But he found himself surprised by what he found.

There stood a purple haired kunoichi with a rather provocative outfit, most likely to induce distractive thoughts in enemy male shinobi in combat situations. Naruto, being Naruto, didn't catch up on this as he was more concerned with the face this woman showed. A face of sadness and also somewhat scared. Not sure how to read this situation, he decided to go with his original plan and confront her, then go from there.

"Can I help you, kunoichi-san? You've been following me ever since the academy." He stated firmly, showing no signs of his inner thoughts.

The woman was at first taken aback by Naruto's sudden appearance in front of her, which was because of her state of deep thought as otherwise her training would've allowed her to see the genin-in-training coming early on. As the initial shock subsided, she was at a loss for words, she was actually in a debate with herself at the moment Naruto appeared about how to approach him. Now the situation was forced upon her.

Within the blink of an eye, she decided to go with her usual mannerism, tough broad.

"Hey there, brat. So you sensed me tailing you. Not too shabby, since you're only a genin to be." Anko said without a trace of her earlier inner conflict. 'Yokai certainly trained him well.' She then thought.

"Yeah, well. My sensei made sure my detection skills would be up to speed, for a genin at least. Normally I would not have sensed you, but I'm guessing you have stuff on your mind or you would've better concealed yourself." Naruto said, matter of factly, but inside he was curious.

"Very astute… Naruto" She then said, solemnly.

Naruto didn't know how to take her showing emotions so openly. Could it mean she doesn't perceive him as a threat or what?

"Lady, how do you know my name? And what's with this sad face? Do I resemble a dead relative or something?"

"I know your name because it's…" Anko paused.

"What? What about my name?" Naruto was getting impatient. Still nothing. Finally Naruto said with irritation, "Look, lady. If you're gonna chase me and hurt me like the other shinobi and civilians then get it over with, but I will not go down without a fight." He then made a gesture towards his projectile weapon pouch to indicate he was ready to fight.

"No, you impatient brat, that's not why I know it and why I'm following you. It's quite the opposite…" She stopped herself as she realized what she was about to say in her own frustration.

"The opposite? What are you talking about?"

"Grrr, alright fine I'll just come out and say it! I've know about you all the way back to the first Kyuubi celebration mob chase, back when you were 4."

"Okaaay, what does that have to do with anything about you being here?"

"Because you and I are the same, Naruto. We're both despised for reasons beyond our control. We're kindred spirits."

Naruto was very much not expecting that. This woman had the nerve to come here and make that claim. His anger rose up and a very brief flash of red passed his eyes, but they were shadowed by his brows as he was facing the ground. Thus it went by unnoticed by both ninja's

"Kindred spirits, huh? And what could you possibly know about the things I've gone through? How can you come here and make that claim and more importantly why? And if it is true, how come you weren't around to help me out back then, huh? You have the gall to come and claim to understand me now after so much time has passed?"

Anko had a hard time taking all that. He had every right, every right to question her and be suspicious of her statement. It wasn't easy for the otherwise temperamental kunoichi to remain calm.

"I know because… because I was once the student of a traitor." Anko said, on the verge of either tears or anger. Naruto couldn't tell.

This caught Naruto's attention. "The student of a traitor? Who were you a student of?"

"None other than one of the legendary sannin of Konoha. The snake sannin Orochimaru."

"Legendary? Sannin? Woah, I'm sorry but I'm not following you, lady."

"The name's Anko, brat. Anko Mitarashi. And I might as well fill you in on who the three sannin are since you'll hear soon about them in the academy. It's a lengthy tale so we should go somewhere where we can talk more relaxed."

Naruto mulled over the things he just learned and was trying to decide whether to trust this kunoichi or leave her behind for the risk of this being an elaborate set up. As the seconds went he found that he couldn't simply ignore this. All this demanded answers.

"Alright, we'll go to my place. You'd better not be yanking my chain here, lady."

With that, Naruto and Anko took off for his apartment.

Naruto's apartment was kept in order by the landlord who hoped to rent it out to someone at some point. However, this apartment had the reputation of once housing the Kyuubi brat and thus no one ever came and accepted any contract.

This left Naruto with a pristine apartment as opposed to the once shabby and run down state it was once in, although Naruto suspected it was only a matter of time before civilians would change that once they found out he was back home.

The two entered and took a seat on a chair and on the bed respectively. Anko told Naruto all about the sannin and in particular Orochimaru and what he's done and how that affected her as his one time student.

"So you see, Naruto. We both are victims of circumstances, mildly put. And to answer your earlier question about where I was all the time, well… I was kept busy and couldn't be of help, even though I wanted to. My role is that of an interrogator as well as a special jonin, making me have little time left for anything else than eating and sleeping. Ironically, that was my plan to help keep my mind off things." Anko told further.

"When I found out about you, I tried to find time to help you or to prevent all the bad stuff from happening but it turned out to be an impossibility. I can only hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for that failing. I can also only hope that you'd like to have me as one of your friends." She finished with a rare show of emotion and vulnerability.

Naruto, who had listened intently up till now, had to fall back into his bed in thought. Everything she had told him felt true and honestly regretful. The part of him that was afraid of being hurt again had been more or less silenced, but that wasn't what was keeping him in thought. He was happy to have someone who can relate to him and vice versa but at the same time he was so unsure of how to deal with it.

Not one to back away or letting fear control his actions, he decided to accept her story.

"Anko-san." He said, sitting up. Anko reaffixed her gaze upon him. "I believe you and I do forgive you for not being able to help me out back then." He said giving a kind smile.

Anko smiled a genuine smile back. Naruto finished with a huge but pleasant grin, "So no need to hope, because you and I are friends from this point forward."

Naruto then surprised Anko by giving her a hug. Not many men have touched her, much less hugged her, and lived to tell about it. But this was Naruto, a boy whom she felt a kindred spirit with, so he was an exception. 'Along with Yokai, hopefully.' She thought as she returned the hug with another of her rare, genuine smiles.


	11. Feral Lady And Ice Queen

Chapter 10: Feral Lady And Ice Queen

Yokai had left the Hokage tower and found himself in a restaurant somewhere in the middle of the merchant district. He had recently ordered his meal when he heard someone say the oddest thing.

"There's that smell again. Only trace amounts now, but definitely coming from somewhere in here." A woman said from the direction of the entrance.

Yokai sweatdropped. Of course something is bound to smell since it's a restaurant. 'Wait a second. Trace amounts? So it's not the food she's smelling. But what could she be…'

He was interrupted in his thoughts as the woman suddenly stood besides him and he felt a small amount of killing intent, just enough to assure you sensing that this wasn't a formal greeting.

"Aha, found it." She said firmly.

"Er… Hello, miss. And what have you found?" Yokai sweatdropped again, this time out of nervousness.

"You." She stated simply.

"Huh? Me? Why are you looking for me?"

"Because you still carry a faint smell of fear, which has risen slightly since I arrived. Tell me, shinobi-san, what business have you in Konoha. "

Yokai was confused, what fear? 'Oh, wait a second. She looks feral. She must have heightened sense of smell. Then she most likely is one of the Inuzuka that Ayame-san has told me about.'

"You must be of the Inuzuka since you can smell fear to such a degree even when it has subsided considerably."

"Correct, but answer me. What is your business in Konoha and why do you smell of fear?" She demanded with a frown, which looked more like a death stare because of her feral look.

'Kami have mercy, she is not a woman to be trifled with either. Konoha seems to be full of hardened… ladies' Yokai thought with a nervous chill going down his spine all the while having a pleasant smile plastered on his face.

"Well, I'm actually back from a mission of sorts and am now basically waiting to start training my student in one last field before I leave for another mission."

"Really? I don't recognize you, in either looks or smell. Just who are you, and why were you afraid?" She said impatiently now.

"Um… well I don't know what to tell you about why I was afraid as I can't remember being afraid really. Nervous, maybe but not afraid."

"Nuh-uh. There's a difference in smell between nervous and afraid, totally different concentrations of adrenaline." She started tapping her foot and had her arms folded.

"Is that a fact, miss…?"

"Hana Inuzuka."

"Ah, Hana-san. Well, in that case I can explain what I must've feared rather than feeling nervous about, although it is kind of embarrassing."

Hana raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."

"Well, you see I was offered to be taken on a tour by this lovely lady who works in a ramen restaurant. Her name's Ayame. I accepted and as we were going through the village, we came upon this other lady named Anko."

Upon hearing the names, Hana's expression softened a little but still listened intently.

"Anko-san tagged along. But for some reason the two ladies couldn't seem to be nice towards one another throughout the remaining parts of the tour. I would've attempted to defuse their arguments but something within me told me I should not. I keep coming to the conclusion it was Kami-sama Himself." Yokai said, a hint of embarrassment heard in his voice.

Hana now looked a little amused. 'So the two are competing for this man? Wow, it's not everyday you see Anko actually keeping at her flirting. Usually it's a small tease towards the girl half of a pair. Although upon further inspection this man doesn't seem to be that bad of a catch. But I've yet to know his name.'

"Well, that explains a lot. But I've yet to hear your name, mister."

"Yokai, but that's my codename. I'm not to reveal my real name at this time."

"What are you, an ANBU?"

"Not quite, but I operate like one in many respects."

"Very well. So who's this student you claim to wait to start training?"

"I'm sure that you have at least heard of him. His name is Naruto Uzumaki."

'The Jinchuuriki?' Hana thought, barely able to contain her surprise. "Yes, I know of him. He has been missing for quite some time now. I take it you've had a hand in his disappearance then?"

"Indeed, he and I were on a training trip. He's just finished his first day in the Academy in fact. It was the very first place he went to upon our return. I will train him soon on the last thing I intend to teach for the time being."

"That being?"

"Genjutsu, or rather the breaking of it. He has so far shown no aptitude towards this field. All the more reason to have him learn how to get out of one."

"Okay, it seems your story holds up. Naruto is indeed back since he's the talk of the town. He was seen recently walking with my little brother and the Nara heir to and from the ramen restaurant."

"I'm so glad I was able to prove that I'm not a hostile nin, I would hate to find myself defending against you due to a misunderstanding."

"Why, because you think I wouldn't be able to handle you?" Hana angrily accused.

"What? No, I…"

"Oh, so you're saying you don't like to fight kunoichi, is that it?" She became angrier.

"No, absolutely not."

"Why, is there something wrong with how kunoichi fight? Are men better opponents?"

"That depends, they…"

"Uugh! MEN! You can't seem to be able to apologize when you've made a mistake. I hope you enjoy your meal. Good. Bye."

Hana stormed out of the restaurant. The waiter just arrived when she closed, no slammed the doors behind her. The waiter commented to Yokai; "Shinobi-san, please don't upset your girlfriend in a restaurant like that, it's disturbing the other guests."

Yokai merely sat there with a blank expression in his eyes and that 'pleasant' smile still on his face. Inwardly he was exasperated and wondered why Kami-sama saw it fit to make fun of him in this manner, among other things.

Later…

Yokai was waiting on training ground seven, which for some unknown reason felt like the right choice to meet Naruto at. He had left a note on his doorstep earlier, telling Naruto to meet him there. Naruto hadn't read the message until after Anko had taken her leave. In fact, if it weren't for Anko noticing the note, which had been slid under the door, Naruto would've been quite late.

Finally Naruto arrived at TG 7. He saw Yokai leaning against the middle pole of three standing in the middle of the clearing.

"You have no idea what day I've had!" They both exclaimed simultaneously.

After a brief moment of awkwardness they took turns telling of their day. After all was said, Yokai commented with a weary sigh.

"Naruto, I would have imagined your day being interesting, for sure. But for both of us having such an interesting first day is nothing short of incredible."

"Tell me about it. But I won't complain, it's been awesome. So what did you want me out here for, sensei?"

"Because there's one more thing I want to teach you about, something I've put on hold until you've shown any aptitude towards it."

"Oh, so what have I shown aptitude in?"

"Nothing."

"Eh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hahaha. No of course you've shown aptitude in all other things. This last thing I want to teach you, you still haven't shown that you're ready for it."

"Um… okay. So what is it and why are you still going to teach me?"

"Because it's genjutsu and you're seemingly unable to fathom how it works. However, anyone can be taught to dispel genjutsu and it is vital to know. I just wanted to let you train in all the other skills before it."

"Oh. Well let's get started, sensei."

"Very well. Listen carefully, Naruto. Genjutsu works by affecting another person's chakra with your own, the most well known type is the genjutsu performed through the kekkei genkai called the Sharingan. But others exists and are just as effective and thus deadly. In order to break the effect you have to spike your own chakra by putting your hands together in the required seal and inject yourself with chakra from one hand to the other. Another method is to have an ally do it by injecting his or her chakra into your body at any point."

"If that's all there is to it, how come genjutsu is so feared and effective?"

"Because sometimes you are alone and the genjutsu so thorough that your mind wont even know it is in a genjutsu or the nature of the genjutsu 'binds' your hands within the illusion preventing you from doing the needed seal to escape it."

"Okay, I'm ready to learn."

And so Yokai taught Naruto how to break simple genjutsus. He knew Naruto would have to learn better ways to do it in order to truly be a resilient opponent against genjutsu users. While walking the streets later on that evening he decided he would have to ask the Hokage for advice at some point.

As he finished that thought, he bumped into someone.

"Oh, my apologies. I was in deep thought and didn't watch where I was going." Yokai said.

"That's alright, Yokai-san." Said a bearded man in his early thirties.

"Uh, have we met before?"

"Heh, no but my father has told me about you. Your description is quite easy to recognize, especially since no one else walks around in such garb, save masked ANBU."

"You have me at a disadvantage, mister. Who are you and who is your father?"

"Oh, this time you'll have to pardon me. My name is Asuma, Sarutobi Asuma."

"Sarutobi, then you must be the son of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage."

"That's right. Now, one could see you had something on your mind from a block away. Would you mind telling me about it, perhaps I could be of help?"

"Maybe, I'm currently training someone to be effective in countering gejutsu, but I don't want to train my student in breaking out of simple ones only. I want him to be able to counter just about any genjutsu out there and I know I'm not the man for the job."

"Ah, say no more. I know just the perfect teacher."

"Really, who?"

"She's known as the 'Ice Queen of Konoha', Kurenai Yuuhi."


	12. Tempered Rampage

Chapter 11: Tempered Rampage

A handful of days have passed since Naruto's first day at the academy. Yokai have wanted to ask Kurenai to teach Naruto the finer points of counter-genjutsu techniques. Unfortunately she has been outside the village for some time due to a mission to the land of marshes, where she was acting as a representative from Konoha.

Naruto's time in the academy has so far been uneventful, with the days being spent mostly listening to Iruka's lectures and eating lunches with his friends. After the academy he usually spends his time relaxing, but does train from time to time in various styles he isn't quite as refined in as the other styles.

At this point in time, a Sunday, we find him doing just that. He had quite quickly found a favorite spot to train outside of the training grounds, which was on the plateau above the Hokage monuments. There he was practicing his taijutsu.

'Damn. These transitional moves are hard to get right.' He thought.

Transitional moves are a combination of an attack or defensive move with that of a preparation for the next move. This in itself isn't unusual for taijutsu practitioners. However it is more pronounced in Naruto's case since his style of taijutsu depends on changing stances and switching styles, which results in his transitional moves to be more difficult and requiring more precise maneuvers. Combined with the fact he needs to adapt to his opponent and make split-second decisions on what new style to switch to in the middle of a move, it really is a most difficult style.

This style, or rather combo-style, fits Naruto's unpredictable nature like a glove. That said, it doesn't mean he doesn't need to practice to get it right.

'I... really... wish I had... a sparring partner.' Naruto thought while catching his breath. 'Yokai-sensei hasn't been around much for some reason so I can't rely on him for now.'

Just then, he sensed an intent coming closer rapidly. It wasn't killing intent, but Naruto hadn't the time to deduce what it was as he spun around and just in time blocked a bare-handed attack. Without taking time to see who it was, he instantly grabbed the hand and made an overhead throw.

The assailant crashed down on the ground with a thud and a pained groan.

"Ooowww, damn it Naruto. I was supposed to surprise you, not the other way around." Kiba complained with a grimace.

Realizing who it was, Naruto laughed heartily. "Kiba? You sly dog, you almost had me. Hadn't I felt your intent I would've been on the ground instead of you."

"My intent? The only intent I know of that can be felt is killing intent but I wasn't out to kill you." Kiba said while brushing himself off.

"I know, Kiba. Killing intent for sure is the most commonly felt in our line of work. But as with everything in life, we have intentions. Yokai-sensei taught me to sense anything combat related, be it killing intent or mischievous intent. I admit I think I need to work on the intentions outside of KI."

"Huh, that kinda makes sense. When me and Akamaru fool around we give off this smell. I kinda took it for granted and haven't thought about it, but I guess you could say it would be mischievous smells."

"I'm curious, just what sort of smells do you come across most often?"

"Overall or in ninja contexts?"

"Either or both."

"Well, I can't say anything personally for the ninja part so I'll just mention what my mom and big-sis Hana have said. They've come across killer smell, sinister smell, fear, power smell..."

"Wait, power smell?"

"Yeah, they say that when you're good enough in smelling stuff, you can detect the rough level of power another shinobi possesses."

"Woah, neat sense of smell. I never thought of that possibility with smells."

"I know, right? I'm part of the clan and I sometimes am amazed of the depth of our techniques when it comes to smell."

"So what about the other smells?"

"Let's see, I'm not fully trained, obviously, so it might become clearer when I get older. But when I walk the streets I get a whooole jumble of smells mixed together. It's insanely hard to try to make anything out besides that which we focus our training on. It's easier for dogs in their equivalent of our years."

Akamaru uttered a series of yelps, barks and whines.

"Akamaru just said that you kinda have to clear your mind of anything else and focus on a specific scent in order to filter it out."

More dog sounds from Akamaru was heard.

"And he said that there are lots of smells related to the stuff people do everyday. Kinda how sounds are related to how stuff are being done, like the hammering of a smith's hammer to make a kunai."

Naruto took it all in and was thoroughly impressed. "Geez, you guys. I had no idea smells could be so detailed."

"Shucks, Naruto. I never knew of your techniques so I guess we're both awesome." Kiba said with a feral, yet playful grin.

"Well, I knew already that I'm awesome. I just could never dream that you could be." Naruto grinned back mischievously.

This time Naruto could feel killing intent rise to very mild levels from Kiba. He was gonna get him for that. Sure enough, with a growl that could put a wolf to shame Kiba launched at Naruto and their fight ensued.

Of course, neither were in it for hurting the other, much. It evolved into a sparring match without a word being said, ninjas don't need words in a fight as volumes can be spoken with fists and jutsus.

Seeing the golden opportunity to spar with Kiba using his more unique combo-style, Naruto began to utilize it during the fight.

Kiba had problems to keep up and got more than his fair share of punches and kicks as Naruto's attacks got around Kiba's guard or simply overwhelmed his defenses with speedy and agile strikes. Other times he got hit by powerful punches when Naruto saw an opening. After a while of sparring, Kiba collapsed on one knee, panting heavily. Naruto was also panting, his style was still taxing to him, despite his already considerable stamina.

"Holy... kuso... Naruto... What is that... style you're using?" Kiba said between breaths.

"It is a combination of many styles, I used a few of them with transitional moves to keep my enemy guessing." Naruto replied.

"What's it called?"

"I dunno, I haven't named it yet."

"Huh? You're saying it's a completely new taijutsu?"

"Yes and no. It consists of already existing taijutsu, they're just used in new ways. You could say that the transitional moves are a new set of styles in themselves as they require the already known stances, attacks and defenses we are taught to even exist."

"May I make a suggestion for a name?"

"Fire away."

"How does 'Feral Rampage Style' sound?"

"Hehe, not bad but it's not quite fitting. Although... Rampage could at least be part of the name."

Naruto pondered for a few seconds. He then exclaimed;

"I think I got it! 'Tempered Rampage Style'!"

"Oooh, that's a pretty intimidating name. I like!" Kiba agreed with a thumbs-up and a feral grin.

"Thanks, Kiba. For the suggestion and for the spar. I learned quite a bit today."

"You got it, dog."

"Dog?" Naruto said, unsure if he should be insulted or something.

Kiba laughed. "Our clan use unique terms of endearment, nicknames, for friends and relatives, just like anyone else. We use 'Dog' mostly."

"Ah. It kinda suits you guys since you're all about dogs and wolves and stuff. Well, I gotta get moving and get something to eat at Ichiraku's. Wanna come?"

"Sure."

As they started the walk down the bluff, Naruto asked. "By the way, what did you come up here for?"

"Well, I was bored kinda and wanted to find something or someone interesting to have fun with. I was walking by the Hokage tower when I caught your scent and decided to see what you were doing. Then as I saw you in deep concentration I couldn't help myself, I had to act on the opportunity to catch you unawares. Why train up there anyway, Naruto?"

Naruto look out over the village as they descended down the stairs leading from the plateau down to the vicinity of the Hokage tower. He said, still gazing over the village.

"Because of the nice view, fresh air and solitude, mostly anyways." Naruto said looking over at Kiba who chuckled with a smirk.

"But there's one thing that stands over them all." Naruto said slightly wistful.

"What's that?"

"It is a reminder of why I'm training. To be the best protector of the village below me."

Kiba looked at Naruto, who was again looking out towards the village. Kiba was surprised by Naruto's depth in both dedication and thought.

"Right on, my man. I see where you're coming from with that." He said thoughtfully after a moment.

After they got down, they ran into Yokai, walking with a raven haired jounin kunoichi with crimson eyes. She was a beautiful woman, despite her rather odd taste in outfits. The one she wore was looking like large bandages wrapped around her. Centered at her midsection but covering her shoulders and a enough of her hips to not show anything that should not be shown openly. From her knuckles to her elbows she was covered with regular looking bandages and her upper half of her legs were covered in a similar manner. Her right arm was, besides her bandages, the only arm with a normal, red sleeve. Finally one could see, covering her cleavage, a mesh shirt. Completing the look was a leaf headband on her forehead.

"Ah, Naruto. Found you at last." Yokai said.

"Hey, sensei. Who's the lady?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, this is Kurenai Yuuhi. She will be teaching you the finer points of countering genjutsu."

Kiba was astounded. This highly attractive jounin level kunoichi was going to teach Naruto something. He didn't care much about the subject, only that he got to get trained by her. Naruto was without a doubt the luckiest guy besides being the most surprising one.

The woman seemed to notice Kiba's look. "Is something the matter, Inuzuka?" She said with an icy tone.

Kiba collected himself quickly. "No, miss. I was just going to get something to eat before heading home (to safety)." He said. He was intimidated by her cold glance, but he didn't show it.

"Good. Now, Naruto. Shall we get started?"

"Um, could this maybe wait for, like, half an hour. I'm starving after having sparred with Kiba over there." Naruto said, unaffected by the emotionless look she was showing. "We were both going to Ichiraku's when you guys caught up to us."

Kiba was at that point behind Kurenai and Yokai and was gesturing wildly to Naruto that he didn't want them along. He was scared by the woman just as much as he found her attractive and didn't want either to show in front of her.

"Very well, but don't dally. Come to training ground 5 when you're finished." Kurenai said before turning around and walking off in the direction of said TG.

Kiba had just enough time to react and appear innocent when Kurenai turned around. When she was far enough away he let out a breath of relief and headed towards Ichiraku's along with Naruto and Yokai.

"So this Kurenai lady is some sort of expert in genjutsu or what?" Naruto asked Yokai.

"She is, aside from the Uchiha clan. I would've asked them but they're more specialized in creating and breaking their specialized genjutsu. Kurenai has a broader variety of genjutsus in her repertoire and the means to counter them. She can even counter the sharingan but cannot perform it."

"But having a broader repertoire usually means one is weaker in each style. I was just sparring with Naruto and he had this far-out taijutsu style which used many different taijutsu styles." Kiba said. "I could tell each style in itself weren't as strong as they would be if more focus was aimed at them in training."

"Correct, Kiba was it?" Yokai answered. Kiba nodded. "But let me guess, you got your tail handed to you by the same technique, right?"

"You got it, Yokai-dude. I was not expecting it and even if I did, Naruto is far to unpredictable for me to mount a good enough defense to stop him all the time." Kiba said. Naruto put both hands behind his head and grinned widely at the praise his style got.

"Well, that is because being strong in one or two techniques is all well and good, if you are working with other shinobi whose techniques compliment your own. Alone, however, you are open for suitable counters which ninja's may be trained in. Being overall weaker but more knowledgeable and skilled in a variety of jutsus opens up more options and therefore makes you much more versatile, and you and your teammates are better off if at least one of you have this versatility."

As they entered Ichiraku's and ordered their meals, Yokai continued. "Which brings us to Kurenai. She has longer list of genjutsus and their respective counters which makes her a valuable asset in the field where encountering genjutsu users of unknown power is likely to happen. Even if that doesn't happen, her own level of genjutsu will be a great help in defeating foes of varying levels of power."

Kiba, usually bored with lectures, was listening as he got a subconscious lesson through Naruto, while fighting, about versatility. Naruto was listening too, though not as intently as he was wolfing down his ramen like there was no tomorrow.

"That is why Kurenai is the best choice for teaching Naruto about genjutsu." Yokai finished.

"Not that I mind it, Yokai-dude, but why is Naruto getting this training and not anyone of the rest of us?" Kiba asked politely.

"Because you all have family techniques to learn and more. Naruto does not. With a lack of relatives, and by extension family jutsus to learn, Naruto is left vulnerable in terms of skills and that not only endangers himself, but his eventual teammates." Yokai explained, while a subdued Naruto kept eating something similar to normal, which wasn't for him.

"Oh. I didn't know that bit. Sorry to hear that, Dog." Kiba said solemnly.

Naruto swallowed his mouthful. "It's okay, Kiba. I'm getting over that." He replied with a sad smile.

"But I don't get something. Why is he getting an early start to his training? He's so far ahead of us other guys."

Naruto almost got his bite stuck in his throat. He never considered himself ahead of the others. Sure, he got a head start but that was, in his mind, more of a compensation for not getting clan techniques as the others did. Although as he thought about it, he was getting clan specific training too, even though it came in later compared to when the others started.

"I would tell you, Kiba-san. But that's because of something only Naruto should tell you."

"And I will in time, Kiba. But not right now. And I don't think I'm ahead of anyone. I'm just like anyone else, I've got clan techniques and other stuff. Besides, don't you guys get a head start in your own clan jutsus?"

Yokai then added, "And while it seems he's powerful, consider that each clan has techniques that make them powerful. Some students make the classic mistake of thinking their techniques may be lesser than some others but that's not true."

"Yeah, believe it, Kiba! Your sense of smell, for one, is so awesome. I could never do that." Naruto exclaimed as he remembered that part of their earlier conversation.

Kiba nodded and grinned widely at getting the praise and Akamaru, nestled in Kiba's jacket, barked happily.

After finishing their meals, Kiba and Akamaru headed for home while Yokai and Naruto headed for the TG Kurenai was at.


	13. Faces

(A/N: I guess I should let you all know that I plan to introduce music into the story. In the form of videos found on Youtube, however I must inform you that since this site doesn't allow links, I will simply give the youtube videos whole name and let you find it on your own. I recommend finding any and all songs before starting to read so you have to simply start them when prompted.

The system works like this. I will in the story put an * where a piece of music will be starting and a ** where it is supposed to end, meaning if you haven't read it through before the song's end you have the option to loop it.

As to which song should be played, They will appear here in the A/N section and will be listed in order of appearance. So the first * and ** is the first song and the next set is the second and so forth.)

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Chapter 12: Faces

Kurenai tutored Naruto in more advanced counter-genjutsu techniques. Much to Naruto's surprise, as well as Yokai's who was present for the lessons, it wasn't anything taxing but rather unorthodox methods, at least in Naruto's and Yokai's books. (It will be revealed in more detail what these methods entail when he uses them in battle)

Time has passed since then, we now find ourselves one year after Naruto's start of the academy. During this time several things have developed and events taken place. The Uchiha massacre has not yet taken place though.

Naruto's friendship with Kiba, Shikamaru, Chooji and Shino has grown. The group became something of the in-group among the guys in the academy. Naruto's still oblivious when it comes to girls.

Shino, being the recluse that he is, is seen with the group on rare occasions as he, himself, has said he's not a group kind of person, although everyone around him agrees his secluded personality has lightened up.

He's more frequently seen hanging out with one of the members separately or seemingly brooding. He claims different when asked why he's brooding, he says he's communing with his insects. No one, save Naruto, takes further interest or even wants to understand beyond that point. Naruto, being Naruto, finds his clan's ability totally cool yet at the same time creepy, which in itself might be useful in some way. Shino himself, begrudgingly, agreed with that point.

Chooji hasn't relented with his snack addiction, beyond what Iruka demanded of him, or his humongous appetite when food is afoot. With Naruto's... appreciation for ramen, the two sometimes compete about who's most capable of consuming the delicious dish with almost everytime Chooji being the winner.

While he still hates to be referred to as fat or rotund, after Naruto found out, so long ago, that his appearance is tied to his clan's techniques and what those techniques really are about, he said to Chooji that because of it he should take pride in it as it is his strength, literally.

Chooji, happy at having a friend besides Shikamaru who understands him and likes him for him, has even gone so far as allow Naruto to give him a nickname; Chulk. It is a mix of Chooji and Hulk.

Naruto based it off of the fact that whenever Chooji becomes enraged, like whenever he's called fat, he expands his body and goes on a rampage, much like how the Hulk does.

Chooji liked that idea since the Hulk is one of his own favorite comic-book heroes.

Kiba and Naruto's personalities are perhaps the most alike and as such they have a close friendship. Even though the two bicker and fight, albeit in good humor, as often as they laugh and fool around, the two sometimes find themselves in deep discussions about various topics, most often regarding the shinobi profession. The other guys sometimes include themselves into the discussion, most of all Shikamaru who enjoys a good conversation.

Shikamaru and Naruto are more friends on the intellectual level. Naruto might act like a doofus and goof around sometimes, but Shikamaru is observant enough and has seen that Naruto is actually quite smart.

While Naruto isn't as smart as Shikamaru or as knowledgeable as himself or Sakura, the class' head student so far, Shikamaru knows that Naruto by himself is growing in both areas at a rate which will challenge himself and Sakura's position in time.

The two sometimes hang out and cloud watch, something Naruto at first didn't particularly enjoyed, due to lack of patience, until they started to discuss various topics, like cloud types and how to spot what sort of weather is approaching, since it is vital to know at times for planning an ambush or other shinobi related things.

After that Naruto relaxed enough to start enjoying the activity (or lack thereof) too, though not nearly as much as the Nara.

Shikamaru actually found it fun enough with Naruto that he gave tips on how to be an observant shinobi, whether it be in regular situations or mission related ones. He got the pointers about missions from his father.

Hinata never really got her courage up enough to dare speak with Naruto and continues to observe Naruto whenever she got the opportunity. Shikamaru noticed this but found it too troublesome to involve himself, it had to do with a girl after all.

Ino had kept her eye on both Sasuke and Naruto, so far she deemed them to be rather equal in terms of looks. She found both to be handsome/cute in various ways; Sasuke's (supposed) stylish hairdo and dark eyes. Naruto for his whisker marks, wild hair and enchantingly blue eyes.

She finds Sasuke's brooding and coolness attractive but Naruto's carefree disposition yet serious attitude towards studying intrigues her too. As far as each individual skills so far she is undecided, so far only theory and knowledge has been taught and so far they seem to be on par at least.

'I can't wait to check out their moves when sparring gets introduced to our schedule.' She thought with anticipation.

Sakura never relented on her crush for Sasuke. She's still the loyal-to-the-death fangirl that so many other girls were. She started out liking Naruto somewhat. But that wasn't to last. Her parents, once they learned of Naruto's enrollment into the academy, vehemently forbade her to fraternize with 'that boy'.

She, of course, wondered why but simply got the response 'He's dangerous, Sakura, stay away from him. And don't speak about him with any other classmate either, he doesn't deserve to even have you utter his name.' Of course this was to conceal the fact there's a law against talking about him.

She was utterly perplexed about all of this, but she obeyed her parents and avoided the blond, would-be genin. Not that she really cared, she was all eyes on Sasuke anyway. Whenever Ino or other girls mentioned Naruto, she would either avoid talking about him or downright say 'he just doesn't measure up to Sasuke, nowhere near.' And left it at that.

But she had to wonder why sometimes, whenever she happened to not have Sasuke on her mind. Why was he so despised and maybe even feared? He seemed like such a happy and average guy in many respects.

'Oh, well. He leaves me alone, I leave him alone. I guess that's good enough.' She usually ended her pondering with as soon as Sasuke came to mind, which was every other minute.

Some of the other class members as well as other academy students outside their class had started to act differently towards Naruto then how his friends do. Some avoid him and some outright act in various mean ways towards him. When his friends ask why, Naruto evades by saying 'beats me' or 'no clue, I treat them no differently than you guys'. Naruto knew perfectly well the cause though; their parents. Needless to say, his friends were very confused.

Yokai had had some trouble with the ladies he's encountered so far.

Anko and Ayame had constantly bickered about being in his presence more than the other, unless one of them wasn't actually present. When there was only one of them, things went by famously.

Hana Inuzuka had kept an eye on Yokai, whenever confronted by either Yokai or her somewhat concerned relatives regarding her odd behaviour she says she has an off feeling about Yokai and wants to keep an eye on him for security purposes. Yokai tried in vain to convince her of his honest intentions. She didn't quite like all the hush-hush surrounding Yokai. The Hokage himself is tight lipped about him according to her mother, something didn't add up.

Kurenai was of a similar mindset, though she kept her eye on him more subtly than Hana did. Unlike Hana, though, she judges people based on their actions more than their words. So after some time of observing Yokai, she found there was basically nothing threatening about him, but she remained curious as to what he is doing in Konoha.

Other than the ladies issues, Yokai had little trouble. He and the male Jounin shinobi soon got acquainted and even befriended a few of them, namely Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi and Maito Gai.

Although Yokai didn't agree with Kakashi's fondness for slutty literature, Kakashi was a man he found to be trustworthy, unless it was a matter of punctuality.

Asuma was a smoker, other than that he was an okay guy.

Gai... well he found that he tried to avoid him. It wasn't that he didn't think he was a bad guy, he just couldn't stand his eccentric behavior. Luckily he doesn't seem interested in challenging Yokai for contests, yet. He's still too much into pestering Kakashi with that.

The new village is still in the middle of construction.

Back with Naruto. He was listening to the day's lecture, which happened to be about various flora and fauna in Fire Country. Suddenly, the door opened and in came Mizuki. He whispered something into Iruka's ear. Iruka then addressed the class.

"Class, I'm needed outside the classroom for a few minutes, please read pages 44 through 46 about the various poisonous plants and their possible uses. I'll be back soon."

At the last part he exited the classroom. Naruto was about to comply with the task given when he happened to glance over at Sasuke's direction. He recalled that he's seen the boy simply sit there and do whatever the class was supposed to be doing. He wasn't socializing with the rest of the class, well not often at least. And when he did, he was often rather haughty and didn't speak much.

The girls in school seem quite taken with the boy too, not that Naruto got why or really cared.

Naruto then got an idea. He whispered to his friends to help keep fangirls away if something happened. Before any of his friends had the time to respond he had already risen and walked over to the Uchiha.

"Hey. You're Sasuke Uchiha, right?"

"Hn."

"You know, I'm curious about something."

"Hn?"

"Are you as good as they say?"

"In what?"

"In keeping a straight face." Naruto said and then went around the desk Sasuke was sitting in and faced him with just about the same position and face as Sasuke had, glaring back at him.

The rest of the class caught on to what he was doing. The guys snickered and secretly rooted for Naruto to get a reaction out of the stoic Sasuke. The girls, sans Hinata and to an extent Ino, weren't as hot on this idea and were fuming and glaring at Naruto for daring to disturb their supposed future boyfriend.

At first, nothing happened. Naruto took this as an acceptance of the challenge from Sasuke. Suddenly, Naruto made subtle changes in his face. He raised an eyebrow, twiched his earlobes, streched his lips into awkward yet hilarious ways and more. Naruto saw that the Uchiha was a bit surprised by the actions but kept his cool. The rest of the class snickered and chuckled silently, even the girls had to admit this had peaked their interest, even if they were still mad at Naruto.

Hinata was giggling silently at Naruto's antics. Ino was entertained by this exchange. Sakura was trying to ignore Naruto and simply root for Sasuke, but that proved to be difficult as the faces he was making were... compelling to watch.

To everyone's amazement, Sasuke finally burst out laughing, making Naruto grin widely at the results before laughing too. At first, everyone were stunned and didn't know how to react, but soon laughed along, even the girls since Sasuke seemed to enjoy this exchange.

"You know, Sasuke. You held out longer than anyone I've ever done this to. How about a rematch sometime?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke calmed down enough to respond. "Naruto, right?" Naruto nodded. "You're on. I admit you caught me off guard with this stunt, but you wont succeed again, dobe." He said with a smirk.

Naruto blinked at the insult but returned the smirk after a second. "Looking forward to it, teme." He then continued, smiling but with a sincere voice. "No offense meant, but you should lighten up a bit and laugh more, it's good for you."

"Hn. I'll think about it." Sasuke replied, hiding a smile behind his folded hands.

"Good, I'll see you around." Naruto said before returning to his seat to start reading.

'The dobe managed to make me laugh, few come close to even do that. Only my brother has made me laugh before. You are an unpredictable guy, Uzumaki Naruto.' Sasuke thought.

'He made Sasuke laugh, I don't believe it! I'm so relieved it went alright. Sasuke's laugh is adorable.' Were the thoughts of most girls in the room.

'He wanted to make Sasuke laugh more? Now that he mentioned it, Sasuke doesn't laugh. It's like he saw someone who didn't seem happy and wanted to change that. Skilled, handsome, funny and sweet. Hmmm, you're a very interesting guy, Naruto.' Ino thought.

'Naruto-kun made Sasuke and everyone else laugh. Oh, if I just wasn't so weak. I admire him so much and I want to talk to him so bad.' Hinata thought.

'If Sasuke is okay with Naruto, then maybe he isn't so bad after all.' Sakura thought.

'Gotta hand it to him, he did the impossible and made Sasuke laugh. He's hard to figure out, but a blast to be around.' Was the thought of some of the guys.

As Naruto sat down, his friends laughed silently and congratulated him on accomplishing that which was thought to be impossible.

Just then, Iruka returned. "Alright class, I've got news. Next week we will start with the more physical part of your education, taijutsu."

A chorus of cheers resounded the classroom and Iruka smiled.


	14. Contest Of Arms

A/N: Music track on Youtube: Streets of Rage - BOSS - Attack the Barbarian! (1.3 Remix)

Remember to copy and past the track name in Youtube search

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Chapter 13: Contest Of Arms

The following week, as Iruka said, the taijutsu training started, as well as the kunai and shuriken practices. Iruka has just taken all the students outside for their evaluation, to see where each student was at in these different areas.

Before going through with the taijutsu matches, as Iruka decided any injury might impede aiming, they were to test every student on their aiming.

As it turns out, each clan heir were quite good but far from outstanding. The normal family students were worse, as was to be expected. However, when the turn came to the Uchiha everyone held their breaths in anticipation. Rumors had it he might be a real ace in throwing and taijutsu.

And he didn't disappoint. There were 6 target dummies with two 'critical' areas each, one on the head and one on the torso, with a bulls-eye on where the heart would be and where the eyes roughly would be. Any area that is not the bulls-eye is worth 5 points and any area that is outside the critical area is worth 2. The students were given enough shuriken (they didn't start with kunai yet) to possibly score one shuriken on each bulls-eye.

The clan heirs had a total score between 48, which happened to be Sakura's, and 74 which turns out to be Shino's. The others are not even worth mentioning, yes they were that bad. There was even one who got a negative score for managing to ricocheting a shuriken right into the upper left thigh of Mizuki, who promptly and loudly left to tend to his wound.

Sasuke scored 9 bulls-eyes, two critical hits and one that hit just outside the torso critical area. Totaling his score to 102 points, the maximum was 120.

"Tch. I'm a bit off my game today." Sasuke snorted his displeasure.

'Off your game? That's pretty much outstanding for the first try.' Iruka thought.

The turn then came to Naruto. He got some curious eyes on him as well, though not as many as Sasuke had. He produced his given shuriken and threw each one in turn. He landed 9 bulls-eyes and 3 critical hits just beating Sasuke's score. This earned gaping from the class and an irritated Sasuke.

"Wow, that was lucky. I usually don't get this many bulls-eyes." Naruto commented cheerfully, rubbing his head in what seemed to be honest mild bewilderment.

"Uh, how many do you usually get then?" Iruka couldn't help but ask.

"Six or seven. Me and sensei didn't get that many opportunities to practice with dummies and I had to picture my 'enemy' and his critical spots. Boy, did it take me a while to be able to get that high a score."

"I see. Well done, Naruto." Iruka commended.

Naruto gave a two finger salute and returned to the ranks. His friends bumped fists and slapped his back in congratulations, the rest had just gotten over the shock of the display of skills.

It is practiced that kunai throwing is not to be started before the class has had a certain time spent in the shuriken lessons, which is one semester. The reason being that shuriken is the easier throwing weapon to start off with. When the semester is done, kunai are introduced and the skills are applied to it with the necessary adjustments for its different shape and weight.

For now, next up was taijutsu. Iruka paired the students off randomly and had each match one at a time so to evaluate the students taijutsu level.

Since clan heirs and regular students are almost without exceptions so different in skill level to start with, regular students and clan heirs were not paired off with each other until the teachers deemed the regulars up to snuff with the clan heirs.

The clan heirs' matches were quite good. Kiba was up against Chooji, speed versus strength. Chooji was not as versed in taijutsu as his feral counterpart, he relied more on the fact his punches and kicks had more power behind them. Kiba's punches and kicks (no clawing allowed) were faster but Chooji was able to absorb much of their impacts. In the end, Chooji had to concede defeat due to exhaustion.

Next was Shino versus Ino. Ino's taijutsu was basic and nothing else, punch and kick and block. Nothing fancy. Shino wasn't better off since his clan relies on their bugs so much, but they do realize the importance of a good defense so they make it a point to train in it as well.

Shino likes to use his head, much like his fellow tactician and strategist Shikamaru likes to approach combat. Ino's approach was much more straightforward.

She started off with a little taunting to try and rouse her opponent's anger so he would make mistakes. However, Shino is more or less immune to this approach. The same cannot be said about his awareness of its effectiveness.

So he made a smarmy comment about her appearance, something along the line of her looks indicating she was more concerned with her appearance than her skills. Ino threw a fit and attacked Shino in a rage, just as he planned. It ended with Shino evading a left hook from Ino and struck her neck, knocking her down and disorienting her, making Shino the winner.

Next up was Sakura versus Shikamaru, much to his chagrin. As soon as the match started he tried the 'I give up' approach but that was very quickly reprimanded and forbidden by Iruka.

Despite the fact he found it to be a tremendous drag, he decided it would be better if he fought for real instead of taking a beating, from a girl.

This time the girl was more skilled than the guy. Sakura may be a councilman's daughter but she had punches and kicks that were more powerful than at first suspected. But her repertoire of moves was just as limited as Ino's. Shikamaru, on the other hand, had some moves but was too lazy to perfect them so he ended up with a fight that was quite even. Finally Sakura managed to end it with a punch to his gut. Shikamaru, due to his laziness, was not in as much shape as he would've liked in this situation.

Hinata's match was different. She was up against Mizuki. This was partly due to the fact there are odd numbers of clan heirs and partly that her clan specializes in their special taijutsu; the Juuken or Gentle Fist, from an even earlier age than other clans. Thus she was considered ahead of the others to such a degree that she requires a Chuunin to fight against, though it was a one sided battle since Mizuki wasn't fighting back. After two minutes Iruka called the match over and made the necessary notes regarding her skill level.

Finally the match everyone in the class was waiting for came, Sasuke's match. He was pitted against Naruto.

The two entered the ring. Sasuke glared at his opponent, sizing him up. Naruto gave Sasuke a relaxed glance before making a few, brief stretching and warm-up exercises to loosen up.

Iruka then asked if the two were ready, to which Sasuke responded with a nod accompanied with a "Hn". Naruto merely made a fist with his right hand and put it in his left palm and made a short bow towards his opponent before taking his fighting stance, a look of concentration in his eyes.

Sasuke had to respect Naruto for taking this seriously, for taking him seriously. *He returned the gesture and took his stance.

"Hajime" Iruka started the match.

Neither combatant made a move, still eying each other. The class was waiting with bated breath for either to make the first move. Finally, Sasuke's patience ran out and he launched his barrage of punches and kicks. Naruto didn't make any counter moves yet, he simply dodged and blocked Sasuke's attacks. No one understood why Naruto didn't make a move on Sasuke yet.

Sasuke was also wondering why Naruto wasn't hitting back, but he suspected he had his reasons. 'He might be trying to find my weakness. Clever, Naruto. But any weakness I may have wont be enough for you to take advantage of.' He thought.

All of a sudden, Naruto made his first offensive move. He grabbed Sasuke's right hand with his own right hand and quickly moved in to put his back to Sasuke's torso. As he did so he came in with his left elbow to Sasuke's left flank, making him wince in pain and lose his footing. As he lost it, he dropped a bit but was held in a slightly awkward position as Naruto still held his hand. But he didn't for long as he made a fierce cry and brought his right elbow fast and hard onto Sasuke's head in a powerful strike, causing Sasuke to fly a small distance and skid along the ground, dazed.

Sasuke wasn't out yet though, he got to his feet and took a moment to regain his senses, which Naruto allowed as he held his ground, bouncing on his feet in a sort of combat dance.

'He's better than I gave him credit for and he knows I'm no pushover. So far he's taking his time, waiting for me to make an opening for him to capitalize upon. Up till now, save perhaps the Hyuuga girl, no one has shown skill that really challenges mine.' Sasuke thought. He then smirked. 'Alright, Naruto. Let's take this up a notch.'

Sasuke ran at Naruto, who readied himself for Sasuke's onslaught to come. But Naruto didn't expect what came next, Sasuke made a series of rapid feints which made Naruto waste movements and split-second decisions to block or evade attacks that never came, leaving him open for a real one.

Finally, Sasuke saw his opening and acted on it immediately. Naruto had just made a reflex move to block one of Sasuke's kick's, which turned out to be another feint-turned-real since he in mid-sweep crouched and bypassed Naruto's block

Sasuke's leg came around very fast for another pass, aimed at Naruto's legs. Naruto saw this coming and jumped in the air to evade. But Sasuke had this planned. As the leg was approaching where Naruto's feet once were, he jumped up and, using the momentum of the motion, hit a surprised Naruto in the side of his stomach causing him to make a windmill spin in the air and landed on his shoulder hard.

'Ooww, that hurt. He's obviously taken this fight to the next step. You're so on, Sasuke.' Naruto thought.

Sasuke had returned the courtesy Naruto showed earlier and allowed him to get up and ready himself for the next exchange of blows. Naruto cracked his neck and took his stance once again.

He soon dashed at Sasuke and the two began a rapid series of attempted strikes against the other. No longer did Naruto block or evade Sasuke's strikes, he tried to counter as well. Sasuke kept up his rapid barrage of feints concealing his actual attacks to come but Naruto wasn't going to be fooled a second time.

At one point Naruto had just redirected one of Sasuke's punches and made a kick with his right leg into Sasuke's stomach. Sasuke caught the leg but was taken by surprise when Naruto cried out and made an agile, counter-clockwise sweep at Sasuke's face with his other leg while the first one was still being held at his stomach. Sasuke had no time to release and block and so took the blow and spun around in the air.

He landed hard on the ground and almost sprained his ankle upon impact. Naruto, again, waited for Sasuke to get back on his feet. But Sasuke simply stood there, awaiting Naruto's move. Naruto obliged and came at him. Again some punch and kick attempts were made by both combatants with no one gaining a true advantage.

"Guys... look at them go at it. It's so intense." Chooji commented in awe.

"Seeeriously. I never knew Naruto had this much combat skill in him." Said one of the civilian students.

"Heh, you guys haven't seen it all yet." Kiba said, though he still was impressed by the display.

'Holy crap! They're both exceptionally skilled in taijutsu. Maybe Hinata should have been in on a free for all fight between the three of them.' Iruka thought.

'I suspected Sasuke was better than any of us in taijutsu from the rumors going on, but I never knew he could be this good. And yet, Naruto is holding his own against him. This is incredible!' Ino thought as she watched with wide eyes.

Hinata was in a similar state as Ino. 'Naruto-kun, be careful.'

Sakura was in absolute awe of Sasuke's display of combat skills. But she couldn't help but notice Naruto's prowess as well since he managed to land some hits on Sasuke too.

'Naruto's giving Sasuke a run for his money, I don't believe it! He keeps on surprising us.' She thought.

Shikamaru had fallen asleep, but at the commotion he woke up. As he saw the fight he made a mental note to not get into a fight against either of them.

Shino raised an eyebrow at the fierce fighting going on. He and Shikamaru both noticed the subtle tactics both employed to gain advantage and had to respect each of their abilities to keep the other on his toes.

Finally, Naruto managed to make a surprise move and send a flying knee strike into Sasuke's torso, causing not only Sasuke to double up in pain, but the audience to wince heavily at the impact. He followed it up with nasty elbow to the back of his head making Sasuke do an involuntary frontal flip, landing on his back, knocked out.**

Panting heavily, Naruto went down on his knees and checked his opponent to see if he was okay. Relieved to see he was merely unconscious and not too badly injured, he made a quick handsign and held his now glowing hand on the back of Sasuke's head. This surprised everyone yet again.

"Naruto, what are you...?" Iruka asked.

"It's alright, Iruka-sensei. I'm just helping Sasuke regain consciousness, as well as take the edge off the headache he's bound to feel from that last strike of mine." Naruto said as he concentrated.

After a moment, Sasuke came to. He saw Naruto kneeling beside him doing something to the back of his head.

"What's going on?" He asked somewhat groggy.

"We just had our match and you got KO'd." Naruto explained.

Sasuke got a displeased face and grunted in annoyance as well as pain. Naruto caught on to this.

"What's wrong?"

"I lost."

"Is that all? Aren't you proud of the amazing fight we just had?"

"What do you mean, dobe?"

"We had a great fight from which we both learned from, Sasuke. I learned about your style of fighting and have gotten new moves to meditate on how to counter and realized I need to improve some of my moves. I bet you did on your end too. Isn't that great? And don't worry, it was such an even fight it could have gone either way in the blink of an eye. Next time we fight, you could very well win. Or we could even have a double KO, hehehe." Naruto explained with a pleased grin.

Sasuke hadn't thought of that. If not for Naruto's skill level, he'd sorely lack a worthy sparring partner that could match his own. This brought a new respect for Naruto within Sasuke.

"I guess so, dobe. Great match and nice win." He said as he raised his hand, asking for a hand getting up. Naruto took the hand and helped Sasuke up and gave Sasuke a firm handshake afterwards.

"It was and thanks for being a great opponent." Naruto replied with a pleased grin.

Just as he finished that sentence, a round of applause and cheering came from the spectators around them.


	15. Conspiracies

Chapter 14: Conspiracies

Six months has passed since the taijutsu match between Naruto and Sasuke. Slowly but steadily their relationship went from that of a rivalry to that of a competitive but close friendship. Sasuke opened up a bit to Naruto about himself, explaining why he's normally so reclusive. They were walking from one of the training grounds towards the Uchiha compound late one evening after a day full of training and sparring with their friends.

"It's my brother."

"Your brother? What about him?"

"Itachi, my brother, he and I... well, we're close and all. But ever since he's been busying himself with his work as an ANBU Captain, that has kept us apart. The times he does come around for training and having fun, he's been so distant and usually only stays for a very short time. I don't know what to make of it, if I've done something wrong or if something's happened that makes him so... I dunno, cold."

"Oh." Naruto said thoughtfully. "If I were to venture a guess, I don't think you're to blame, Sasuke. I've heard from my sensei that the life of an ANBU, more so a Captain of them, is filled with blood and pain, more so than the average shinobi. It wouldn't surprise me if he is disturbed by some of the things he witnesses."

"But as a ninja you're supposed to quell any emotions and not let them show." Sasuke said.

"That's true. Then again, my sensei says that emotions are part of what makes us human, and being human is something no ninja can deny completely, or even mostly for long. If you ask me, the Will of Fire, which is about protecting those dear to us, is about letting the feelings we have for our precious people give us strength to fight. That in itself is kinda contradictory."

"Yeah, I have thought about that too, it confuses me."

"Well I say that we should let our emotions be a larger part of our shinobi life if it gives us strength." Naruto said with a grin.

"Naruto, what about emotions clouding our judgement?"

Naruto had to concede, he's allowed his anger get the best of him before and that cost him during sparring sessions with his sensei. "Yeah, I dunno. I have to ask my sensei more about this. Anyway, so that's the reason you're so glum all the time." Naruto said with a teasing grin.

Sasuke snorted, yet smirked. "I call it brooding, dobe."

"Sure, whatever you say, teme. But seriously, why not open up more and enjoy the friends you have around you? You also have a few ladies after you." Naruto snickered.

"That I am perfectly aware of, Naruto. Don't remind me." He responded with disdain.

"You don't like having girls liking you?" Naruto said surprised.

"*sigh* What guy wouldn't? But let's face it, they're way too immature and annoying to want to be with at this time. Right now, they'd be a distraction. Not only to me, but themselves."

"Themselves?" Naruto asked, truly confused.

"By focusing their attention on me and not their education as a kunoichi. I mean, if they took it seriously they'd not only be very effective as ninja and can handle themselves, but I can depend on them in the future. If things progress the way they are right now, they'll only be a liability for everyone around them. That's why I try to deny them as much attention to prevent it."

"Wow, you've really thought this through, haven't you?" Naruto said with an impressed look.

"That's what brooding is good for, among other things." Sasuke retorted. "As for other friends, you are right however. I should lighten up."

"Yeah, based on your earlier argument you should."

"My earlier argument?"

"Yeah, about being a distraction."

"..." Sasuke looked at Naruto with much confusion. "You're not making sense, dobe."

"Think about it. You said you'd rather not open up to the girls because they'd be a distraction, since they're so far behind due to their fan-girl devotion. But the opposite can be said about the guys and some of the other girls."

"The opposite? As in they'd improve my time in the academy?"

"Right. They take their stuff seriously, as you and I do. And if you let them in, you can grow stronger in just about every area with their help, just as they'd grow stronger due to their friends. I mean, just look at us two. Because we find each other worthy rivals we also grow more because of it, but we also train and such together. If more are included, your growth is guaranteed to increase exponentially."

"Yeah... I guess you bring up valid arguments. Okay, I'll try to relax more and stuff."

"Glad to hear it. But one thing disturbs me still." Naruto said.

"What?"

"Well, now that you brought up the girls' lack of interest in their kunoichi skills due to yourself, no offense, then I can't help but want to do something about it." Naruto said thoughtfully.

"First off, none taken. Secondly, Naruto, you just want more girls for yourself." Sasuke mock accused.

Naruto blushed and threw Sasuke an angry and indignant glare. "Hey! I do not, teme! I truly want to try and make them take their training seriously!"

"Yeah, whatever, dobe." Sasuke replied with disinterest. "But just for the cause of getting rid of the fan-girls, I'm all ears to what you're gonna suggest."

Naruto glared for a moment before returning to think about how to go about it. After a while he finally said what his plan entailed.

"Okay, here's what I would have us do. The girls are all in a sort of club of rivalry, right?"

Sasuke nodded the affirmative.

"Alright. And just as our rivalry they would do anything to out perform one another in getting your attention. What if you were to give them the right incentive?"

"What? I told you I don't want to give them the wrong idea, nor do I even want to be with any of them."

"Calm down, Sasuke. All I'm saying is that you are in a position to steer them in the right direction."

"How?"

"Well, let's say the girls ask you what you find attractive in a girl. What would you answer?"

"I'd say I like a strong and skilled kunoichi who can take care of herself and be of use to the team she's in."

Naruto got slightly taken aback by the answer. "That's it? Nothing on looks or personality?"

"Of course, but that comes later."

"Umm. Okay, whatever. That's actually a great answer. Here's the plan. Tomorrow, I and the rest of the guys will start talking amongst ourselves, but so the girls can hear us, about them and you. I'll say that they're a lost cause since they haven't even asked you what you like in girls." (A/N: Which they haven't. Pfeh, fan-girls.)

"Wait!" Sasuke's face brightened up in realization of where Naruto was going with this. "And then they'll think and argue amongst themselves a bit before deciding to ask me, most likely in a group at lunch or after school, what I like and then when I tell them my answer they will focus their rivalry in their training instead of their obsession over me?"

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" Naruto said with a sliver of sarcasm. Sasuke either didn't notice or bothered to react since he was in deep thought of the plan.

"That would not only get them off my case a great deal but also more or less make sure they'll be good kunoichi by the time they graduate. Not bad, Naruto. If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd be almost as smart as a Nara."

"Thanks." Naruto said with pride before he caught the hidden jab. "Hey, wait a second!" He shouted and attempted to grab Sasuke for a brawl.

Sasuke merely laughed mock evilly and evaded Naruto's grasp while running the final distance towards the entrance of Sasuke's mansion.

Inside the mansion, while Naruto and Sasuke were still in the middle of their discussion.

Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, father and mother of Sasuke and Itachi, were in the dining room and kitchen respectively. Fugaku was reading the "Fiery News", which was Fire Country's lead newspaper, currently grunting in displeasure as his favorite sports team, the Konoha Katanas were doing poorly this year. This time they lost against Kumogakure's team, the Raiko Naginatas by a mere point. Fugaku snorted his displeasure, loudly enough to alert his wife.

"Is something the matter, honey?" She called from the kitchen.

"Bah! The Katanas lost against the Naginatas by a mere point. It's disgraceful, I tell you. They should have won by the same instead, if not completely denying the other team points altogether."

Mikoto giggled to herself before consoling him all the way from the stove. "It's not that bad, Fugaku-kun. Everyone has a bad year from time to time." She couldn't avoid being up to speed, being with a sports crazed husband as Fugaku, even though she wasn't into sports at all.

"It just goes to show even the Katana's aren't unaffected by the Hokage's lax rule." Fugaku commented with clear disgust for said leader.

While Mikoto was a kind and loving mother and wife, she was also somewhat against the way the Hokage ruled the village. That said, she wasn't as much against him as her husband.

"Now, now, dear. You know as well as I do that there's just no way the team could be affected by how our Hokage leads us. The team is composed of people from all over Fire Country and is sponsored by Fire Daimyo himself."

Fugaku merely mumbled an unintelligible response.

"What did you say, Uchiha Fugaku!" Mikoto called with an angry tone. She didn't like mumbling, to her it's like hiding a grimace aimed at you.

"Oh nothing, Mikoto-chan. I was just reading out loud." Fugaku lied through his teeth.

"I thought so. Supper will be ready in a few minutes." Mikoto called back.

"Alright, koishii (darling)." Fugaku sighed in relief and returned his attention to his paper.

Suddenly the door opened and slammed shut. After a brief moment Itachi walked into the dining room.

"Father." Itachi greeted neutrally.

"Itachi." He returned, equally neutral.

"We need to talk." Itachi stated.

"What about?" Fugaku's gaze never left the paper.

"Your attempts at starting a rebellion." Itachi answered.

This caught Fugaku's attention. He put the paper on the table and turned to face his son.

"Alright, son. What is the matter?" He queried.

"Father, it's not right. I know you're not pleased with how our Hokage has ruled so far. But take a look around you. Our village has prospered and recovered just fine, great in fact, from our last war and the Kyuubi incident under his guidance. To go so far as to instigate a rebellion because of your petty disagreement is nothing but an act of utter, childish selfishness and arrogance, not to mention traitorous and downright murderous for all the lives that will be lost." Itachi argued, still with a neutral tone but the underlining determination could still be felt.

Fugaku's eyes hardened at his son's words. "Itachi. You're too young to realize that the Hokage's ways will bring us to ruin in the end. His ways has brought us far from the days of glory."

"Glory? What glory. The 'glory of war'? There's no such thing as glory in war." Itachi said, this time with some fire. "Speaking of war. If this rebellion takes place, even if it fails, it will almost instantly trigger a new shinobi world war all over again. If any country caught whiff of any sort of instability in our ranks, then they would not hesitate to capitalize upon our moment of weakness."

"We're the mightiest nation in the world, Itachi. We will prevail as we always have, should it come to pass." Fugaku argued.

"See? That's just it. You're not even considering the war itself. You're perfectly willing to risk the countless lives involved in that war just to win your argument against the Hokage."

"It's more than an argument, son!" Fugaku fumed. "It's about the future of our great village."

"What future will we have if you plunge us into a world war? How much more must our people suffer? Haven't they been through enough of our previous leaders' squabbles, which always have affected their people in the negative?"

"That is enough, Itachi! This has to be done. Nearly all of the Uchiha are with me, I just need a little more time to convince the rest to join me and then our superior bloodline will crush all opposition!" Fugaku shouted in a moment of rare, warped passion.

Itachi was also showing a rare emotion; Shock. But also deep disappointment and sadness.

"Is that your final word on the matter?" Itachi said, after regaining his composure.

"It is, now leave. You're not having supper for this foolishness of yours." Fugaku ordered.

In the kitchen, Mikoto was in tears. She had heard the entire exchange. While she was not in agreement with everything the Hokage did, she was still supportive of him in general. It was her duty to support him. But at the same time she loved her husband dearly and wanted to support him as well in his endeavors. She was torn. Very torn. And the fact their son was obviously against the whole thing didn't help matters any. She also wanted to agree and side with their son. What was she to do?

Suddenly she noticed that Itachi was standing in the kitchen with her, even though her eyes were moist she had no problem discerning who it was. He watched her briefly, looking for something judging from the gaze he gave. Itachi then approached his mother and embraced her in a hug. She returned it tenderly.

"Mother?" Itachi half whispered.

"Yes, Itachi-kun?" She responded in a half-whisper.

"I know you are torn between your two duties. But I need to know. Where do you stand, ultimately?" Itachi said with a determined voice, but it showed his affection too.

Mikoto didn't know what to say. She was internally hoping this would blow over and all would be fine again but as it stands, she's caught between a rock and a hard place.

"My son, I do not know." She whispered. "I... I just... do not... know." She said between stifled sobs.

Itachi pulled away from the embrace and looked into Mikoto's eyes once more. After a moment, his eyes seemed to indicate that he was in pain himself.

"Mother." He said quietly.

"Yes, Itachi-kun." She said, smiling a sad smile.

"I must go on a mission. But I will be back real soon. Can you do something for me in the meantime?" He asked with another, rare show of emotion; deep concern.

"Anything for you, my beloved son." She answered in a cheerful voice in an attempt to console her obviously troubled son.

"Take a stand before I return." He said, his eyes boring into hers.

Fierce determination was in those eyes, yet she also clearly saw love and concern. The usually stoic Uchiha normally don't display emotion this openly, so whatever her son was getting at was going to be serious, very serious.

"I... How long will you be gone for?" She asked hesitantly.

"Not long. In fact, I will be back by midnight."

"That soon? What kind of mission is it you're going on?"

"A special ANBU mission. That's all I can say. Again, can you do that for me?"

"I... I will try to make a stand by then. But why is it important for me to make a stand by then, Itachi-kun?" Mikoto asked, worriedly.

Itachi took a moment before answering. "Let's just say that one answer makes my career as ANBU easier while the other makes me, not to mention my little brother, happy."

"Sasuke-kun? I didn't know he was politically interested." Mikoto said.

Itachi laughed quietly, but it was a bitter laugh. "No, he isn't. Not yet anyway."

Itachi then turned around. Before he walked away he turned his head to his mother.

"Until then, mother." With that, he headed for the door to attend his duties.

Outside the mansion

Naruto and Sasuke had just arrived at the gate and were walking on the path towards the entrance to the mansion.

"I didn't say you were dumb. Did I say say that? No I didn't, dobe." Sasuke said nonchalantly

"No, but I can tell you were thinking it." Naruto accused with a sour pout.

"Oh, do you possess the sharingan or something?" Sasuke said with sarcasm.

"No, you're just not as hard to read as you'd like to think, teme." Naruto said with a smirk.

Sasuke was about to throw something back in their verbal war when the door opened in front of them. Out came Itachi. Itachi gave Sasuke a glance and Naruto an even shorter glance before walking down the path. Just as he passed the two he said with a neutral voice;

"Sasuke."

"Itachi-niisan." Sasuke greeted back.

When Itachi was beyond earshot, Naruto commented, "Yeah, I can see why you'd brood because of his attitude."

"Shut up, dobe. Something was bothering him more than usual this time." Sasuke said somewhat indignant.

"How could you tell?" Naruto asked, both sarcastically and honestly.

"He only addresses me as 'Sasuke' instead of 'little brother' when he's preoccupied with his work."

"I thought you said he did that often, what's so special about this time?"

"I guess I should tell you that he has also different faces for different states of emotion."

"Like what? Neutral, stoic, emotionless and unreadable?"

Sasuke briefly considered pounding Naruto for his inconsideration but let it go as it was, after all, Naruto. The goofiest and most unpredictable academy student. It was his nature to try to lighten up any gloomy situation. Besides, how was Naruto supposed to know that Itachi seemed... sad?

"Dobe, he was sad." Sasuke said seriously.

"Oh. I wonder what got him that way." Naruto had the decency to look a tad embarrased.

"Your guess is as good as mine. If it's work related then we'll never know. And it's almost always work related. I'm willing to bet it is 100% work related." Sasuke said, grimly.

"I'll take you up on that." Naruto said cheekily.

"Say what?" Sasuke said incredulously.

"I'll bet it was family related. The winner has to buy the other ramen for a day." Naruto said with a grin and his hands behind his neck, already seeming to be certain of his victory.

"Naruto, is this something we should bet on at all?" Sasuke said.

"Fine, if you don't think you'll win..." Naruto said with a shrug, but keeping his cheeky grin.

Sasuke, not one to back down from a challenge, growled. "Alright, dobe. You're on."


	16. Food For Thought

Hey every1. Sorry for the late update, have had a few things on my plate, of which I wont go into detail.

However, I want to ask if you want me to continue with the idea of listing background music here and indicate where they should start and so on in the story. None of you guys gave any indication that you liked it or even did it.

You're free to come up with other ideas too, just keep it constructive and all that.

* * *

Chapter 15: Food For Thought

Sasuke and Naruto were about to enter his mansion when Sasuke noticed that Naruto was hesitant to follow him inside.

"What's the matter?" He asked, curious.

"I... just realized I haven't been inside here before and I haven't met the rest of your family before."

"What? What's there to be nervous about, dobe?" Sasuke was obviously confused about Naruto's reaction.

"It's... nothing really, I just haven't done this before." Naruto said.

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't really the truth either. He was in fact very nervous to how Sasuke's parents were gonna take his presence. He had this internal argument before, but today he decided to face it. It would come out sooner or later that Naruto's not well liked by most anyway. Better to be there to defend himself to a certain degree than to have Sasuke just being told not to associate with him, at least in Naruto's opinion. He hoped also that their time together so far will bear weight with Sasuke in his own decisions.

For a brief moment, Naruto recalled he had to do this all over again with the families of his other friends. He shuddered at the thought. 'One thing at a time.' Naruto thought, calming himself.

"You haven't been to anyone of your other friends' homes yet? I thought otherwise."

"I've just been occupied with training and stuff. But I mean to get to know them all, starting with yours." Naruto said, a sheepish grin and a neck rub accompanying the explanation.

"Whatever you say, Naruto. Let's get inside, I'm starving after our training and supper should be ready by now."

True enough, after they entered they could smell the delightful aroma of Mikoto's supper cooking. Naruto was secretly disappointed that it wasn't ramen, but he knew perfectly well it can't always be ramen for him at every turn. Yet, Naruto couldn't help but become ravenously hungry at the wonderful aroma.

"Mom, dad, I'm home." Sasuke called as he removed his boots.

"Sasuke-kun! You're just in time, supper is ready." Mikoto called happily from the kitchen.

'This is it.' Naruto thought grimly, yet also with a sliver of hope.

"Mother, I've brought one of my friends home with me." Sasuke said, presenting Naruto.

Mikoto's gaze went upon Naruto. She immediately gave a warming smile. "Welcome to the Uchiha mansion." She greeted with equal warmth. "What is your name, sweetie?"

Naruto, in his nervousness, blushed ever so slightly at the initial, warm reception. "Naruto Uzumaki, Uchiha-san." He said and mentally braced for impact.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Mikoto had recognized Naruto as the Kyuubi vessel the second she laid eyes upon him. However, she was among the few people that also understood the difference between the jailor and the tenant. Therefore it came as a great surprise to Naruto when she, with that same warmth still present, said;

"Please, call me Mikoto."

Inwardly, Naruto wanted to jump and cheer in joy and relax his guard but his cautious side wanted to let things progress a bit before celebrating. Sadly, because of his past experiences, the latter prevailed over the former.

"Alright, will do Mikoto-san." Naruto said politely.

"I hope you're hungry, boys."

"We're starving, the dobe here and myself had an extensive series of training done today."

"Dobe? Why do you call him that, son?" Mikoto said, shocked.

"Oh, Mikoto-san don't worry. We're friends, he just has this name for me for some reason. All in good humor. Besides, it's not like I can't return fire at the 'teme'." Naruto said as he mock glared at his friend beside him.

"Well my nickame for you is more appropriate." Sasuke returned.

"Like hell it is. If anything, mine fits you like a katana in it's scabbard."

"Puh-lease. Yours doesn't quite 'cut' it. If you were a hand then mine's your glove."

"That's quite enough you two." Mikoto said sternly, though she had to fight a fit of giggles at the bickering, glad to see the close friendship the two had.

"What's all the ruckus?" Called an annoyed Fugaku from the dining room.

"It's me father, with a friend."

"Who's this friend of yours then?"

Sasuke went inside the dining room, with Naruto trailing close behind.

"His name's Naruto Uzumaki, father." Sasuke said just as Mikoto passed the two by with supper in her hands.

The moment Fugaku saw Naruto and heard the name he was about to voice his displeasure when suddenly Mikoto put down the supper she had in her hands on the table slightly harder than necessary, catching his attention.

"Isn't it a lucky thing that I happened to make a little too much supper dear?" Mikoto said sweetly, looking at her husband with women's patented 'eyes of doom'. "Now Sasuke's new friend, Naruto, can help make sure nothing gets left over."

The two have had their disagreements before regarding the Jinchuuriki and the nature of his seal. Fugaku was convinced like the so many others that he either was the nine tailed fox in human form or heavily influenced by the same while Mikoto was more level headed and saw the boy for what he really was.

Mikoto has tried to get her husband to see reason but hated the arguments. However, other times Mikoto was in a foul enough mood to actually force her husband to sleep on the couch, or in worse cases at one of his friends as a result of their disagreements.

At this moment, she was actually in a chipper mood, seeing Sasuke with a good friend, who just happened to be the kyuubi vessel. And she would be damned if she would allow Fugaku to ruin it for either boy.

"Why don't you formally invite Uzumaki-san to join us, Fugaku 'dear'?" She said even more sweetly, promising grief if he didn't.

Fugaku knew better than to deal with a livid Mikoto, he would have to endure the nine tails brat for now.

"Yes, why don't you join us." Fugaku said with a strained grin.

Naruto could tell something wasn't quite right with Fugaku but instantly decided to not let it bother him as he was now more or less accepted into their home.

Dinner was a rather pleasant affair, if you discount Fugaku's occasional glare sent Naruto's way, which Sasuke was alone in not noticing. Mikoto was cheerful and kind towards Naruto and asked most of the questions about him. Naruto answered as far as he was allowed or dared to without seeming rude or that he was trying to hide something.

But what Naruto didn't know was that Mikoto was once a very skilled Jounin, and still would be if she wasn't retired from duty to be a mother and housewife. With her great observational skills she noticed that Naruto was reluctant and elusive about talking about his past, at least the one before he went for his trip. She felt sorry for the poor boy. Yet she also couldn't help but feel a fair amount of respect and admiration that he held such a happy spirit in spite of it all.

'Poor Naruto. His life must've been rough already. And at that age...' Mikoto though, wanting to cry but held it in with her kunoichi training. 'But he still holds his head up high. One of the greater signs of a terrific ninja in the making.'

"Mom?" Sasuke suddenly addressed Mikoto.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"We passed Itachi on our way in. He seemed sad over something, do you know what it could be? And why isn't he here to eat with us?"

Fugaku took it upon himself to respond. "Itachi wont be dining with us for showing disrespect."

"Fugaku! He was voicing his opinion and he did so out of concern for not only the clan but for the village."

"That does not matter, he's my son and as such will adhere to my word as his father, not to mention as the clan head."

Naruto for some reason couldn't let that one slide without putting in his two ryos.

"Pardon me for speaking about something that doesn't concern me, sir. But shouldn't everyone be allowed to voice opinions? And as your son shouldn't his opinion carry slightly more weight than others?"

"I have to agree with Naruto, father." Sasuke said respectfully. "We should be able to talk freely without fear as long as we do it with respect."

Fugaku was livid. He slammed his fist on the table and all but roared.

"I am the clan head and what I say is law and is to be seen as next to the Sandaime's."

"Fugaku!" Mikoto shouted.

"Silence! You, brat! You indeed have no say in how I rule this clan or anything for that matter. In fact, for your insolence I want you gone from this house when I come back down!"

Fugaku then stormed from the table and headed upstairs. Naruto and Sasuke were pretty sure neither did anything really wrong. But Naruto said it anyway.

"I am sorry for speaking about things I shouldn't." He then gave an apologetic bow.

Mikoto, though still deeply troubled over this event, gave Naruto a kind smile.

"No, Naruto. You did nothing wrong, my husband..:" She looked towards the stairs with a disapproving look. "can't seem to be respectful himself towards other people at times even though he demands it himself."

"Mother, what was the disagreement about?" Sasuke asked, troubled though he didn't show it.

"Politics, dear. I don't think you would understand if I tried to explain it right now."

"Try me, I need to learn this too, don't I?" Sasuke said.

Mikoto had a look of consideration for a few moments before deciding to indeed try him.

"Well, dear. Fugaku and the other family heads are going to meet soon, this night in fact, about approaching the Sandaime regarding his rule. We want to point out some of the things he's done that we don't agree with."

'Not very accurate, perhaps not even true, but enough for the point.' Mikoto thought.

"And my brother has his doubts about this approach?"

"Yes, he believes things are fine as they are and that the Sandaime's tenure to be exemplary."

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. He could barely keep from shouting out his disbelief.

"Are you saying that you guys think Jiisan isn't doing a good job being Hokage?"

"Well, we... wait, did you just...?" Mikoto did a double take. Naruto's less-than-respectful title for the Hokage coupled with the obvious sign of the opposite was baffling for her.

"Yep." Sasuke and Naruto said, having been in the same situation before lots of times.

"Sarutobi-jiji and I go way back. He's like a grandfather to me." Naruto said with a cheshire grin.

Mikoto couldn't help but giggle at the boy's honesty and charismatic smile. She could see those were two of his endearing traits.

"You're a funny one, Naruto. Not many would dare to speak in such a way about Sarutobi-sama."

"Meh, jiji likes to keep a stern front but he's a kind old man." Naruto commented with his grin still in place.

"Anyway, about your question, Naruto. We think Sarutobi should have done some things differently, yes."

Naruto looked at Mikoto with an unreadable face. Sasuke hasn't seen that look before, it kinda worried him.

"Naruto?" He asked, concerned.

"Mikoto-san. Have you been a kunoichi before?"

Surprised at the question, she replied in the affirmative.

"Then you know that the duty of the ninja is to obey and carry out the will of the Kage."

"Yes, but what does that have to do with..."

"Everything!" Naruto said, surprised she didn't make the connection. "A shinobi's foremost duty is to be loyal to the village and his or her Kage, even if the Kage makes his or her mistakes. After all, every Kage is only human and therefore no rule can be perfect. And unless the rule of the Kage is downright tyrannical, the shinobi under him or her should do everything in their power to carry out his or her orders."

"That's all well and good, Naruto. But didn't you say before that one should be allowed to voice their opinions?" Mikoto said. She believed this to be nothing more than a young boy's view of the model shinobi.

"Sure, but with respect and with the fact in mind that you might not have the better solution after all. If you really want to change something, work for it and never give up. Complaining will get you nowhere."

"Unless you're Naruto Uzumaki." Sasuke said with much sarcasm.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto said, his voice heavy with comical indignation.

"You know perfectly well, dobe. Every time we have to do something Iruka-sensei told us to that you don't like, you whine like a big baby and let everyone else know your displeasure."

"I'm not 'whining', I'm voicing my concern that it's a waste of time for not just myself but for everyone in class. If I sound like I'm whining you're mistaking it for concern and passion for doing what we really should." Naruto said with gusto.

"Sure, dobe, sure." Sasuke said, not believing a word.

"Anyway, why complain? Haven't we had a great life in the village? Haven't we been without wars for a good amount of time now? Haven't we prospered? What's so wrong that you want to complain?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious, if not actually bewildered.

"It's not that simple." Mikoto tried to wave away his points. But she had to admit to herself that they had next to nothing to really complain about.

"Why not? I mean no disrespect, Mikoto-san, but if all is fine and you still complain, what does that make you?" Naruto said, trying to ease the bold statement with respectfulness.

Sasuke did not take that kindly.

"Oi, are you implying we're a bunch of whiners and ingrates?" He said with anger and indignation.

"No, Sasuke. I just don't know how else to say it, short of saying it's a grown-up version of a sandbox quarrel."

That remark hit home with Mikoto. Was that what it really was? True, in their eyes they had valid reasons to be unhappy and had real concerns that were important enough to warrant the clan's attempt to gain power. When it boils down to it, however, it's more of a petty squabble of who's in charge and what positive thing should have been done instead of another positive thing, though she had doubted some of the things they had were actually all that positive.

But now, truly, she saw that they were all selfish reasons when it comes down to it. Had she really been talked into a selfish power struggle? Has her view on her duties to the clan clouded the greater duty for the village to such an extent?

She would have to ponder this and where her loyalties truly lie.

She hadn't noticed that the two boys had started arguing until they almost were at each others' throats.

"Boys, stop this at once!" She commanded angrily.

"But mother, he was stomping on our clan's honor."

'Honor, huh? Sasuke-kun, if what I suspect is true, then our honor has already been sullied by our own hands.' She thought bitterly.

"I did no such thing, at least not intentionally. I'm sorry if I did, Sasuke, Mikoto-san." Naruto bowed again to them both.

In actuality, Naruto had given Mikoto some food for thought, but she didn't want that to show, so to keep up appearance, she said.

"Apology accepted, Naruto. Try to think a little more before speaking your mind about sensitive topics." She admonished, though she feared it came out half-heartedly.

Sasuke nodded in agreement, but smiled, reassuring that he too has put it past him.

"Yes, mam." Naruto said with a smile of appreciation.

Sasuke then turned to Naruto, with a cheeky grin.

"Okay then, Dobe. Ramen's on you tomorrow."

Naruto turned to Sasuke with a look of honest shock.

"What? You can't be serious! That was so not work related, that was family related."

"It was about politics, it has to do with his work in the end."

"Uh-uh, no way. It was completely family related, you're gonna buy me ramen tomorrow, teme."

"In your dreams, dobe. Take your defeat like a man."

"Yeah, 'I' would if 'I' lost."

"Dumb Blonde!"

"Stupid Duck-Butt!"

"Whiskered Wimp!"

"Broody Bastard!"

All of a sudden, the two were wrapped up in a crushing hug by Mikoto, who had walked up to right between them.

"Awww, it's so nice to see you two getting along so well." She said with affection.

"Moooom!" Sasuke whined slightly. Naruto, however, enjoyed this if his grin was any indication. It wasn't everyday a mother hugged him, even if it wasn't his mother. Add to the fact that Sasuke was embarrassed and it was a very good thing indeed.

Giggling, Mikoto let go of the two and started to take away the dishes.

"I guess I shall add 'Mama's boy to my list of insults from now on, teme." Naruto gloated.

As much as Sasuke hated that remark, he couldn't come up with a good enough counter to the obvious fact that he and his mother were close.

But Naruto slapped him on the back, saying, "Don't worry, I was only kidding."

"Huh?"

"Having a mother is a wonderful thing, teme. One should never take that for granted. Which I'm glad to see you don't, being close to her and all."

"Yeah." Sasuke replied, smiling in understanding. He knew that Naruto's had no parents.

"Well, I guess I'd better get going. I don't wanna get thrown out by your pops." Naruto said, trying to sound cheerful.

"I'll walk you out."

They went into the kitchen first so Naruto could say goodbye. They found Mikoto, with Itachi.

"What is your answer, mother?" He asked, his face and voice unreadable.


	17. The Uchiha Massacre

Chapter 16: The Uchiha Massacre

"Itachi-niisan." Sasuke greeted with a smile.

Itachi gave a quick glance and a nod. Only Sasuke saw that Itachi was in fact not happy to see him.

'What's going on? Why's niisan acting like this?'

Mikoto's mind was racing. What was her answer? She promised her eldest son she would have an answer by the time he got back. But if she was perfectly honest with herself, she has always doubted the 'need' for this uprising of theirs, and the recent discussion opened her eyes to the truth of the matter; that her clan has more or less betrayed their village and their Hokage. She found she was indeed ready to give her answer.

Itachi had on his unreadable face, no one but himself knew what was going on in his mind.

Sasuke just remembered what Itachi asked when they came in. '"What is your answer?" What is he referring to?'

Naruto was having a different mind struggle.

'I wonder if I should have Sasuke buy me a miso or chicken ramen? Naw, I had chicken last time. How about sushi flavored? Never had that before. Gah! So many ramen variants and only one choice.'

"With Konoha and Sarutobi, Itachi-kun" Came Mikoto's reply.

Confused with the nature of the answer to the unknown question, Sasuke and Naruto tilted their heads and said a quiet "Huh?"

Itachi gave no indication of any kind to his reaction of her answer. Instead he closed his eyes and gave a slow nod, as if giving a respectful bow, with only the head. Suddenly he opened his eyes and gazed briefly at his mother, Sharingan fully visible. Mikoto gasped loudly before freezing in fear. Itachi then swiftly unsheathed his katana and ran it through Mikoto's chest.

Sasuke and Naruto were too shocked to move, Itachi had just murdered his and Sasuke's mother.

Itachi and Mikoto stood close with Itachi's katana through her torso for what seemed like hours, when in reality it had only been a few moments. Itachi then spoke.

"Now I can at least rest easy, knowing at least you weren't a traitor." He spoke evenly.

He then pulled his katana out from Mikoto's body and let her slump to the floor, gurgling in her own blood.

Seeing his mother upon the floor, Sasuke finally snapped out of his shocked state and ran to her.

"KAA-SAAAAAAAN!" He bellowed as tears ran freely for his mother.

Naruto was absolutely shocked, he had just witnessed a matricide. He himself longed for his father and mother and the thought of hating them or killing them if they were alive never entered his mind. He would treasure them as the most precious people on the face of the planet if they were returned to him. This man, no this monster, had just done the unforgivable, he had killed... his own mother in cold blood.

"You..." He growled deeply.

Itachi turned to Naruto, his expression as neutral as ever.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Naruto roared, his eyes briefly flickering from blue to red and back.

"I have done what I must." Itachi said without emotion.

"WHAT COULD EVER JUSTIFY MURDERING YOUR OWN MOTHER IN COLD BLOOD?"

"Being a traitor." Itachi replied simply.

Naruto couldn't tell whether he meant himself or Mikoto. He then remembered what Itachi said about resting easy.

"I thought you said SHE WASN'T ONE!" Naruto countered.

"Indeed, her answer proved it."

"Then why?" Naruto growled. Knowing that this monster had to pay, he unsheathed his own weapon, a ninjato. His previous weapon, the wakizashi, replaced by Yokai two months ago as he was deemed skilled enough to not warrant any wooden ones.

Sasuke was still holding his mother, weeping bitterly. Fugaku was storming down the stairs, bellowing in fear for the harm the sounds indicated .

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?"

"Father! Uzumaki has just struck down mother in cold blood." Itachi faked hurt as he took a combat ready stance just before Fugaku entered the kitchen.

Seeing his beloved wife on the floor in a pool of her own blood and Sasuke weeping into her chest, Fugaku was trembling with sorrow and gritting his teeth in wrath. Not needing any incentive to believe that statement since the demon brat was going to do something like this sooner or later, Fugaku approached a bewildered Naruto.

"You demon spawn, you will die like the monster you are!" Fugaku growled.

"He's lying, Itachi killed her himself!" Naruto pleaded his innocence. To deaf ears.

"DIE!" Fugaku screamed as he produced the kunai from his back he always had in case of emergency and leaping towards Naruto.

Sasuke, who was slowly coming back to reality, saw his father charging a surrounded Naruto. Before he could yell to Fugaku to stop and that Naruto was innocent, Itachi looked right into his eyes with his Sharingan.

Fugaku clashed with Naruto. Naruto made only to defend himself from the enraged Fugaku's onslaught of strikes, swipes and lunges.

"Please, Fugaku-san! You have to listen to me, look at the blood on Itachi's blade, it's Mikoto-san's blood. Mine doesn't have any!"

Fugaku was about to scream at Naruto to shut up and die when he noticed the ninjato that Naruto wielded was indeed unstained. But before he could act upon this revelation, he was impaled from behind by Itachi.

"And so it ends before it even begins, _father_." Itachi said, with some venom at the title. He then removed the blade and made a swipe, chopping off the head of the Uchiha patriarch.

Naruto couldn't believe what was happening, it had to be some sort of twisted nightmare. He readied himself for a fight, no the fight of his life.

To his surprise, Itachi turned around to face Sasuke.

"As for you, foolish little brother..." Itachi began.

He found that he wouldn't have the time to finish as Naruto came at him with surprising speed. He swiped at him from behind but missed as Itachi leaned and let Naruto pass.

In his heart Naruto held fear like he never knew before. He knew that Itachi was incredibly skilled, he knew he would not stand a chance against him as he was now. He knew that where his life was in danger before by the mobs, he had a chance to get away with no harm to being heavily beaten and left for dead. But those were civilians, this guy was a shinobi. He wouldn't make that mistake before leaving this place.

Still, Naruto knew that he had to fight, he had to protect Sasuke from his mad brother, even at the cost of his own life. The only real chance to come out of this battle was if...

'My new jutsus! That's the only chance I have left.' Naruto thought. He had learned from Yokai that a shinobi has to have a cool head and be able to think at the most stressful of situations. He never could have guessed that that part would be put to the test so soon and so intensely.

Steeling himself, he decided it was time to let Itachi now that he was in for a fight.

"If you want Sasuke, you'll have to get through me first, traitor." Naruto said with burning determination.

"Very well." Itachi said, unfazed by Naruto's statement.

Naruto found himself on the defensive very quickly, and just as quickly found that he was loosing. If he didn't do something soon he would not survive.

'I guess it's no use, I have to resort to the new jutsus I have. I'm sorry, sensei.' He thought with both determination and regret.

In a surprise move, Naruto parried one of Itachi's many attacks and made a desperate jump forwards and skidded beneath Itachi's legs. While Itachi spun around to face Naruto, Naruto made the necessary hand signs. To Itachi's great surprise, the signs were not the ordinary ones used for jutsus.

"Ghost Style: Phantom Squad!" Naruto shouted.

Four Naruto's shimmered into existence in a way that resembled a shunshin. The squad of Naruto copies then launched an attack on Itachi. Sharingan activated, Itachi still couldn't determine who was the real one.

'What is this? They're obviously clones, and yet I can't distinguish them. They're not shadow clones either so what are they?'

Putting aside that mystery for later, Itachi sprung into action and sliced the clones or whatever they were. Itachi was surprised yet again when he found that the clones only shimmered a little then stabilized again.

'Well, they seem to be regular clones, only they can't be as easily dispersed.' Itachi thought.

But he was surprised yet again when one of the Narutos managed to land a hit on Itachi from his left flank. But he was not hurt.

'What the hell? His ninjato definitely hit me, but I'm not hurt?'

But then he noticed it, when he tried to use his chakra he felt a pain in the area he was hit in. It wasn't crippling but still considerable.

'This pain, it's unlike anything I've ever experienced. It's like a mix of a pulled muscle and a localized...'

Then it hit him, it felt like chakra depletion, only localized.

'How can this be?' He asked as he avoided the attacks and tried to strike the real Naruto. 'Chakra depletion is universal to the body, it can't be localized.'

Deciding that playtime's over, he released large amounts of killing intent. Naruto staggered a bit while his phantom squad remained unaffected. Itachi noticed this.

'How fortunate, it seems the clones cannot be affected by mind related jutsu.' Itachi mused. He then made a beeline for the real Naruto and attempted to knock him out. However the clones intercepted him in time and Itachi instead made a run for it as he has already wasted enough time and needed to make his escape from here before any ninja patrols came along.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto shouted and ran after Itachi.

What Naruto had failed all this time to notice was that Sasuke had passed out as he left him to chase the murderer.

Dispelling his phantom squad, Naruto pursued Itachi. 'But what should I do? If I break off to try to alert any shinobi he might get away in the meantime. But if I keep this up and catch up to him, he will most likely kill me without really breaking a sweat. I wish I could summon some sort of clone that could speak, that would solve my problem. Gah, focus Naruto! Okay, he can't be allowed to get away, that much is clear. And I did at least keep him at bay for a little while back there. So I should stand a better chance than I thought at first. With any luck I will find a way to alert someone as I go.'

As the chase went on, he noticed that Itachi was heading for the Hokage tower. Hoping that if Itachi went inside that he would be able to sound the alarm or something, he increased his speed.

When he arrived at the point of Itachi's entrance, he discovered the guards of the immediate area knocked out cold and the local alarm button disabled.

"Crap." He hissed as he followed Itachi's trail. 'But what is he up to here? The Hokage isn't here at night if he wants to assassinate him.'

He suddenly noticed that Itachi had stopped in front of a door, the guards once again knocked out.

Itachi went inside in a hurry. Naruto stopped in front of the door and looked inside carefully.

"I sense your presence, Naruto-kun. Come in." Itachi said, ever so stoic.

"Don't you 'kun' me you bastard, you're as far from allowed to call me that as humanly possible." Naruto replied with much venom as he cautiously entered the room. It was lit and Itachi stood in the middle with a big scroll in his arms.

"I doubt that, there are far worse things one can do before that should be applicable. But I can't fault you for feeling that way I suppose."

"Stop it with that know-it-all bullshit, Itachi. I'm gonna put an end to your killing spree right here and now, with your death!"

"Yes, it is indeed justified, Naruto. But I'm afraid you're too late, as my 'killing spree' is already over."

"What are you saying?" Naruto said, still full of wrath but couldn't help but be curious of that statement.

"Haven't you noticed that I haven't killed anyone outside of my clan?"

"Huh?" Naruto said, dumbly.

"I've merely knocked out the guards outside. The part of my goal which require killing has already been accomplished."

"Like that will easy the weight of your crimes. And just what is your goal, trash?"

"I wasn't attempting to ease my crimes. As for my goal, I cannot tell you, Naruto. Maybe someday I will reveal it. But for now, I must take my leave. Stand aside."

"Not a chance in hell, you're not getting past me!" Naruto shouted.

Itachi looked Naruto over before asking.

"What are you prepared to do?"

"Whatever it takes to stop you or die trying." Naruto answered with a chilling gaze.

"Good answer. Tsukuyomi." Itachi said as his Sharingan spun.

Naruto found himself in a landscape with a black ground and orange sky, as if all around them were a distant fire lighting up the clouds, looking at himself his skin and clothes were different shades of black and gray and even white in a few places. 'What the hell is this?' He thought.

"This is Tsukuyomi, a place where I control everything, even time." Itachi said from behind Naruto.

Suddenly Naruto found himself bound to a post with no chance of freeing himself. In front of him was Itachi with a sword.

"I will now torture you for days on end while at the outside of here it will only have passed a few seconds."

Naruto was afraid, no scratch that, he was terrified. But he wasn't going to allow Itachi the pleasure of seeing it.

"So this is a world you've created, huh? A genjutsu of the Uchiha's?"

"Correct. And it's one where I control time itself and what you're gonna experience at any given time."

Naruto readied himself for the torture he knew was aimed at his mind and soul more than his body.

'Wait a second, mind and soul? What did Yokai-sensei say about that again?' Naruto frantically thought and then searched his memory.

_Flashback no Jutsu_

_Yokai watched as Naruto went through different katas with his wakizashi bokken. He wanted Naruto to master the katas for kenjutsu before giving him a real weapon, otherwise he would injure himself in the process. Normally a wakizashi bokken is impractical but with its short blade made of wood he could see how Naruto went through his katas and how the blade went in relation to his body without fear of Naruto bludgeoning himself in the process. It is also a good idea in his opinion to start with a shorter blade before taking it to the next step with a longer one._

"_No, Naruto, I keep telling you, you have to let the weight of the blade contribute to the movement when performing katas that require natural flow of movement."_

"_I know, sensei, but I keep getting stuck on the idea that you have to control the blade at all times and restrict its movements or they will cause you injury or lose the grip."_

"_That is only true when you're doing katas that require powerful swings and lunges."_

"_*grumble* Right sensei." Naruto said, obviously downcast._

"_Is something the matter, Naruto?" Yokai asked with concern._

"_I just can't seem to get the difference or remember what kata is what. I can't help but feel I'm worthless in kenjutsu."_

_Yokai observed Naruto as he went through his katas, more accurately this time. It didn't take too long before he made similar mistakes with other katas again. Naruto couldn't see it but the mistakes constantly grew farther and farther between. It was only a matter of time and practice before he would get them down._

_Deciding to raise Naruto's spirit, he called out to him. "Naruto, let's take a short break."_

_Naruto came and sat down besides Yokai._

"_Naruto, do you feel as if I'm only pointing out your faults?"_

"_No, sensei, I feel great having you as my teacher. You're awesome." Naruto said with a grin._

"_You didn't answer my question, Naruto." Yokai chided mildly._

_Naruto gave a sheepish grin and rubbed his neck. "Honestly, sometimes I do. But I don't want to complain or seem ungrateful. I know learning is supposed to be difficult."_

"_I appreciate your honesty, though it took a little to get that out." Yokai winked. "It's alright to feel frustration, it can sometimes spur you to increase your performance. But only if it doesn't get out of hand, which is terribly easy. So far that has rarely happened with you, and that alone is impressive. You must have Kami's patience sometimes, I swear."_

_Naruto had at this point already been introduced to Yokai's way of life and accepted it as his own. But he still had much to learn about that as well._

"_About that sensei, you say you have a close relationship with Kami. I didn't think Kami, a friggin' god, would want to get that involved with a lowly human."_

_Yokai laughed at Naruto's choice of words. "Hahaha. Kami's not as far away from us mortals as you think, Naruto."_

"_What do you mean, sensei?"_

"_I mean that Kami Himself created the world and everything that is in it. Us humans included. Why would He then not bother with us anymore?"_

"_Because we're so full of faults."_

"_I suppose that's as valid a guess as any. But think about it, Naruto. If you managed to invent an instant ramen maker, wouldn't you be proud of it, even if it sometimes breaks down and you have to fix it?"_

"_Are you kidding? I would fix it every time without complaint, well most of the time without complaints."_

"_Hahaha, my point exactly. And Kami has said that we humans are the crowning of the entire world. We're the peak of his creation. Of course He takes interest in us and our well being."_

"_Why did He create us though?"_

"_That not even I know, at least not yet. Kami will reveal it if and when He deems it necessary. Anyway, He wants to make sure we have a good life and that we're protected from harm."_

"_Why doesn't He just force any threats to go away or destroy them?"_

"_Because He has said he wont go against free will, that said He wont leave us without special techniques to protect ourselves from evil people."_

"_What made people evil?"_

"_That is a lesson for another time, Naruto. For now, how about I tell you about spirit chakra?"_

"_Spirit chakra?"_

"_Yes, it's one of four chakra types. These are; Human chakra, which is a mix of your biological, mind and soul energy. Then there's natural energy which is chakra existing everywhere around you. Next is spirit chakra which is the chakra from Kami Himself embedded in every human being. Why it's not used is because Kami has decreed that only those attuned with Him are allowed to even sense it, much less use it. Finally there's corrupted chakra, which is the chakra type of demons and truly evil people._

"_Woah, awesome. What does spirit chakra do?"_

"_Well, for one it makes people like you and me who are attuned with Him immune to internal genjutsu."_

"_Internal? Is there, like, external and internal genjutsus?"_

"_Precisely, internal genjutsu targets the mind and soul, or heart, of the victim. Spirit chakra negates such intrusion if you calm yourself and commune with Kami even whilst in such genjutsu."_

"_Why doesn't it do it automatically?"_

"_Only advanced Kami shinobi have that ability. One day I'm sure you'll achieve that."_

"_What about external genjutsu?"_

"_External genjutsu comes in many various forms. Some require nature chakra affinity, like what sages have, to become immune to. Those genjutsu attack the superficial part of the mind and affects how you view your surrounding, that is an example of where nature chakra affinity would automatically dispel it since you sense everything around you too well for it to be effective. However, I am not good with countering those kinds of genjutsu, not beyond basic anyway. At some point I want to have you train you in it."_

"_Aw, come on, sensei. I want to focus on the other aspects first. Can't we take it last?"_

"_I suppose. At any rate, in order to negate internal genjutsu you have to commune with Kami. Here's how you do it..."_

_Flashback no Jutsu, Kai!_

'Calm yourself and focus on Kami. Then AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!'

Itachi had just stabbed him for the first time in this horrid world.

"For about three days worth of time there's going to be nothing but this" He said and stabbed Naruto once more.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed in pain. 'Come on, I have to calm myself.' He frantically thought.

Amazingly, in spite of the intense pain inflicted upon him, Naruto managed to focus on Kami and started communing with Him.

'Yo, Kami-sama are you around?'

No answer.

'Hey, I've got no time to fool around here.' Another stab. 'NNNGGHHhhhh! I know I'm supposed to be a tad more focused, maybe even moAAAARRRRGGHHHH! More respectful, but come on, I'm in a bit tied up and feeling a shitload of pain here. AAAAHHHHH! Give me some slack, will ya?'

A rumble was heard. Naruto, and Itachi, looked up and saw that right above them the orange clouds were turning white before starting to swirl around like an eye of a hurricane was above them. In the 'eye', a bright light shone directly upon Naruto.

"**You always were a disrespectful, impatient boy, Naruto-kun" **Came the voice of Kami.

Naruto snorted in response. "You'll have to excuse me. Being tied up and stabbed repeatedly with a katana, even thought it's in my mind, puts a great strain on manners and patience ya know?"

Kami seemed to chuckle at that response. **"Indeed."**

Suddenly Itachi felt someone's eyes upon him even though he couldn't make any out.

'What in Kami's name is all this?' He thought.

"**You, Itachi Uchiha, leave or be thrown out of here!"** The voice commanded.

Itachi opted to chose the former option and vacated Naruto's mind.

Before returning to the waking world, Naruto addressed Kami. "Thanks, Boss. Remind me to buy you ramen later." He said honestly grateful.

"**You have the weirdest ideas of thanking me, Naruto-kun. How about I tell you what I want instead?"** Kami replied.

"Ask away, though I dunno if I can deliver." Naruto said as he brushed himself off, despite the fact it was all in his mind.

"**Spend more time communing with me."**

Naruto got uneasy with that request, just like every time he was asked to do that by Yokai.

"I dunno Kami-sama," He began respectfully. "I just don't feel..."

"**At least promise me one thing for now, Naruto-kun."**

"What?" Naruto asked, somewhat relieved.

"**That once all this mess you're in right now is over, that you'll talk to me again. We have some things to discuss, you and I."**

It was structured as a request, it sounded as an honest request. But Kami's literally awesome presence still made it seem like a command.

"I... I will, Kami-sama." Naruto said, shakily.

"**Do not fear, Naruto-kun. I will always be 'with' you. Now go, finish your task."**

With that, Naruto was flung into consciousness. He was still standing and saw that Itachi had dropped the big scroll he was holding before and held his head in what appeared to be a very unpleasant migraine.

Reacting quickly, Naruto dove for the scroll, grabbed it and used the momentum to ram his body into Itachi's torso. Just as they both recovered from the impact, the alarm was sounded.

'Damn, I have to move now.' Itachi thought.

Itachi made a beeline for the door and disappeared. Naruto attempted to take up pursuit once again only to trip on the scroll on the floor, making it roll open. Shaking his head clear he was just resuming his chase when he saw the contents of the scroll, well, part of it really. He saw that it was the instructions for a more advanced form of clones.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu." Apparently it took one step further from the regular clone jutsu by adding a fourth element or dimension; mass. Glancing it over, he subconsciously memorized the needed seals and rough amount of chakra.

He then closed the scroll and returned it to the place he believed it was located before turning to give chase again, it had only been about 30 seconds. Naruto didn't get far though as the ninja guards who were still conscious had arrived.

"Halt! Stay where you are!" One of them ordered.


	18. Revelations

Chapter 17: Revelations

When Naruto saw the guards he was relieved, finally some other ninjas to help catch Itachi.

"Finally, reinforcements! Quick, help me catch Itachi Uchiha. He's just..." But Naruto was cut off mid sentence.

"Be silent! You are under arrest; for breaking and entering the Hokage tower, assaulting guards on duty and attempting to steal the forbidden scroll." The guards said angrily as they approached and grabbed Naruto by his arms.

"What? No, you've got it all wrong! It was Itachi Uchiha that did those things! He's run out of this room not even a minute ago, we have to stop him!" Naruto pleaded/shouted.

The shinobi merely laughed at the boy's accusation.

"Itachi-san? He's one of Konoha's greatest ninja, boy. The idea that he would betray us like this is preposterous! Now come quietly or you will suffer our wrath." The shinobi in command ordered.

Naruto was frustrated beyond words. "Hey! If you don't believe me, as Sasuke Uchiha. He and his family have been brutally attacked by Itachi just before he came here with me in pursuit. Fugaku-san is dead and so is Mikoto, I think. Sasuke's still there as far as I know, grieving."

"Stop with your lying, boy. You're under arr..."

"No! You stop! Stop arguing and help me. Or if you insist on arresting me, at least send one or two men to confirm what I've told you first!" Naruto was now screaming.

It seemed to get through to the chuunin in charge as he looked like he considered his words for a brief moment. Finally he said,

"Very well, boy." He then turned to his partner. "Find another guard and send him to confirm and, if needed, provide assistance for the Uchihas, then get word to Hokage-sama about what's happened and about Uzumaki Naruto's arrest."

"Hai, Taichou." The other chuunin saluted before dashing out of the room to perform his tasks.

"Now, Uzumaki-san. Will you come quietly or do I have to use force?" The chuunin asked, sternly.

Naruto was relieved that they at least were sending help to Sasuke. Seeing that there was no way to escape, at least not without becoming a fugitive, Naruto begrudgingly relented.

"Hai, do what you have to, shinobi-san." He said with a defeated voice, yet also looked relieved.

The chuunin, unnoticed by Naruto, raised an eyebrow at how Naruto gave in. He thought the village pariah, notorious prankster and overall knuckle-headed boy would put up more of a fight. But he was also rumored to be heavily unpredictable so he didn't let his guard down as he put the chakra restraints on him.

As it turned out, Naruto was gonna surprise him again.

"Shinobi-san. Now that I'm restrained and can't escape, can you send someone to chase Itachi? He's gonna escape if you don't do something soon."

"I thought I told you, Uzumaki. Itachi is one of Konoha's greatest shinobi and revered by his peers. There's no way what you're accusing is true."

"Then why did you send help for Sasuke's family if what I said couldn't be true?"

He had him stumped, momentarily.

"I just couldn't risk it, if that part of what you said was true and I could've done something about it it would be my hide on the line." The chuunin replied evenly.

"And wouldn't Itachi escaping be if it turns out I was being truthful?" Naruto retorted angrily. To which the chuunin didn't reply but continued to lead Naruto to a holding cell for further questioning.

Naruto was about to resign himself to failure to stop Itachi as he sat down on his cell's slab when the arresting shinobi addressed him through the door's window bars.

"I know I will just waste the guard force's time with this, but I will see to finding Uchiha Itachi. For your sake, Uzumaki, you'd better hope you're telling the truth." He said before turning to perform his duty.

Naruto smiled slightly, pleased that more shinobi was joining the chase, and those were without a doubt more suited to confronting Itachi than he was.

He then recalled his promise to Kami to commune with him once things were settled. While things were still not exactly settled, he could do little else while waiting for the Hokage to come question him, as he doubted he would send someone else to do it to his unofficially adopted grandson.

So, he got comfortable, closed his eyes and once again focused on Kami.

'So... I am here again, Kami-sama.' Naruto began his mental/spiritual conversation, feeling uncertain.

"**That you are, Naruto-kun. I am pleased to see you kept your promise to me."** Kami's gentle voice (as opposed to his thunderous state in Tsukoyomi before) responded right away.

Naruto actually was surprised at that as he usually have to go at it for a small amount of time before something happened; from sensing Kami's presence at the least to actually conversing with Kami.

'It's my nindo, Kami-sama. To stand by what I say and keep my promises.' Naruto declared with a mental shout and raised fist while outwardly he was simply smiling.

"**I know. It is a rare nindo. As rare as it is honorable."** Kami said with approval.

'Heh, thanks, boss. It just seems like it should be common sense.' Naruto replied sheepishly. Being complimented by Kami himself was so far out in Naruto's books he didn't know how to handle it.

"**Naruto-kun. There are things you must know about what has just transpired."** Kami stated.

Naruto was not expecting there to be more to it than what he witnessed already.

'Um, what could that be? Itachi killed his mother and father in cold blood and would have slaughtered Sasuke, his own little brother, had I not stopped him. Then had I not stopped him a second time, with your help of course, he would've gotten away with that important scroll with jutsus in it. What else is there to know?' Naruto said, honestly confused.

He could feel Kami's presence even closer to him now, as if He was in the room instead of... up there or whatever.

"**Open your eyes, Naruto-kun."** Kami gently commanded.

Naruto complied. What he saw was some sort of white strings made seemingly from nothing but light twirling about in a ball like state, he couldn't really tell since the light made it hard to make out. The light-strings then expanded outwards to form a square, with the middle of the square still being full of light, the wall on the other side not visible through it.

"**What you are about so witness, Naruto-kun, must stay with you until I tell you otherwise."** Kami said, once again gently and yet with an air of authority.

Naruto, knowing that when Kami himself tells you to keep quiet about something it was absolutely vital to do so, nodded.

"**You must say it."** Kami said.

"I promise to not say anything about this unless you tell me otherwise, Kami-sama." Naruto said using his voice instead of his thoughts, bowing in submission before returning his gaze upon the square.

The light in the middle of the square suddenly started to open right at the center. Naruto initially expected to see the wall on the other side of the square but very soon realized the growing image to be a display of events. Much like a television, only utilizing much more awesome hardware, if it even was tangible to begin with.

"**Now, pay attention, Naruto-kun. You must know of Itachi's reasons for his deeds."**

Naruto was about to protest and counter that nothing could possibly justify murdering your family when the 'screen' emitted sounds.

_Meanwhile_

A squad of three chuunin had arrived at the Uchiha manor. They found the front door unlocked and quite demolished as if someone was in a real hurry to exit the premises.

Upon entering they soon found Sasuke, Mikoto and the remains of Fugaku on the kitchen floor. Fugaku's head was severed from the body and Mikoto laid in a pool of blood but her body was intact. Right beside her was Sasuke, unconscious and on his back.

'Oh no.' The captain of the squad thought before regaining his composure. "Chi-san, search the remainder of the manor, if any more victims are found, report back to me. If you see any assailants don't engage on your own, call for backup." He ordered one of the other two chuunin, who promptly saluted and went to work.

"Hikari, let's tend to Sasuke-san and Mikoto-san."

"What about Fugaku-san, Atari-taichou?"

Atari gave him a look of disbelief.

"I think he's beyond help, don't you think?" Atari commented dryly.

"Err... yeah, I suppose." Hikari said, embarrassed by his moment of stupidity.

"Come, help me examine them, I'll check Mikoto-san."

The two began their examination. Atari checked Mikoto's pulse and couldn't detect one. Hikari checked Sasuke and concluded he was physically fine but seemed to be under the effect of either shock or a genjutsu, he couldn't tell. He didn't want to risk his waking up to more traumatizing scenery if it was a genjutsu so he opted to have him wake up in the hospital.

Chi came back to the kitchen after a rapid search of the manor and finding nothing of importance.

"Nothing to report, taichou. The manor is empty save for the victims in here."

"Very good." Atari answered and then pushed on a radio located in his ear. "This is Atari Esutee, requesting immediate medical assistance for two victims, one adult female and one teenage boy located in the Uchiha manor."

"_Acknowledged, Atari-san. Medical teams are now being alerted."_ Came a female voice on the other end.

Suddenly another chuunin came running into the manor.

"Atari-taichou!" The chuunin hollered.

"What is it?"

"It's... It's horrible, sir!" The chuunin said, obviously distraught.

"Yeah, we know. Murder is always ugly, Otomo-san." Hikari commented.

"No, it's more than a murder. It's a mass slaughter!" Otomo exclaimed.

"What?" The squad said in unison

"The entire Uchiha clan has been... wiped out!"

Atari was shocked to the core. For a minute he didn't know what to do, say or even think. Finally he gathered his wits about him again, even if slightly.

"Any survivors? Any at all?"

"Sir, so many were killed in a way leaving no doubt to their death. Others are showing no life signs and are presumed dead. No apparent survivor has been located."

Atari then pushed his radio again, but wasn't saying anything for a moment.

"_Atari-san? Why are you transmitting?"_ Came the female voice on the other end.

"I... I must report the Uchiha clan... has been massacred."

Silence.

"_Please... repeat that."_ Came the barely collected query of the communications kunoichi.

"I repeat... the Uchiha clan has been massacred. Inform the Hokage and the morgue." Atari said, his voice collected but everyone who heard could tell he was heavily disturbed by all of this.

"_... Understood. Alerting the Hokage and the morgue."_

"Chikusho." Atari cursed under his breath.

"It looks like that Naruto kid told the truth after all." Chi said.

"What makes you think he didn't do all this himself?" Hikari retorted.

"Use your head for once, Hikari. Do you honestly believe Naruto-san would've been able to wipe out the Uchiha clan, the WHOLE clan, by himself?" Atari said darkly.

"I... uh... didn't think about that." He said dumbly.

'No surprise there.' Atari thought before asking Otomo.

"Was Itachi Uchiha found among the deceased?"

Sifting through his memory, Otomo replied. "No, sir. No his name wasn't among the ones reported to me, taichou."

More and more it would seem that Naruto's story held up. Still, some questions remained unanswered. Atari made a note to attempt to attend the debrief of Naruto. Right now he had to investigate a bit further into the crime scene itself.

Just when he was about to start, the medical team he requested arrived. Atari indicated Sasuke and Mikoto for them.

As they went to work, Atari began inspecting the scene. He immediately took note of the bloodied footprints on the floor. Mikoto's and Fugaku's blood were all over the place, Naruto and Itachi had obviously stepped into the pools of blood and in their battle stepped everywhere. Being an accomplished tracker, Atari saw that there were different sizes of the sandals used. One matching the size of the teenage Naruto and one the adult Uchiha. To the untrained eye, there is no pattern to the mess, but for a shinobi like Atari it was soon 'deciphered'. Indeed there was a fierce fight between the owner of the smaller feet and the owner of the bigger ones recently.

"Taichou!" One of the medic nins alerted Atari.

"Yes? Report." Atari answered/ordered.

"Sasuke-san is unharmed and seemingly under the effects of a genjutsu. Since he doesn't appear to be suffering any distress from it, we recommend moving him to the hospital before resuscitation."

"Do so, and Mikoto-san?"

"She's still alive, sir. Her stab wound is serious. But her biggest danger is her loss of blood. She also appears to be under the effect of a genjutsu, one we aren't able to classify at this time."

"What? She's alive? Do what you can for her here, but don't remove the genjutsu. It could be dangerous out here. After she's stabilized I want her as quickly but safely as possible transported to the emergency operating room of the hospital."

"Already on it, sir." The medic saluted before returning to help his colleagues.

_At the Hokage's home_

Sarutobi had retreated to his bed only a few minutes ago after some relaxing read he liked to do, and it wasn't the Icha-Icha. He stopped reading that before bed as in his age, getting too carnally excited before going to sleep could affect his dreams. He had a couple of incidents where he had a heart attack from the dirty dreams he had. Lucky for him, he wasn't known as The Professor of shinobi for nothing. He had picked up a jutsu to help get his heart under control and heal any resulting damage of its excited state.

So he decided to simply read an adventure story he found had it all really; action, drama and romance along with a good dose of humor here and there. It was called "Hoshi Senran: Kaeru no Gedai"

'That last chapter was rather inspiring.' He thought as he was about to let sleep claim him. Alas, it wasn't to be. A large knock, no more like pummeling, was heard from his front door.

"Hokage-sama! We need you, it's urgent!" Came the voice of a ninja.

Grunting and muttering his displeasure, Hiruzen rose from his bed and put on a simple robe as he walked to his front door.

Opening the door, he warned the disturber of his sleep, "This had better be good, ninja. I could have you go visit Ibiki and Anko for a day if it's not."

Gulping, the ninja reported. "Hokage-sama, Uzumaki Naruto was arrested breaking and entering the Hokage tower and attempting to steal the secrets therein. He knocked out a few guards in the process."

Sarutobi was stunned. It took a few brief moments before his senses returned and deduced that there must be something else going on as he didn't for one second believe Naruto would do this, or even be capable of knocking out the guards.

"Are you certain of this?" Sarutobi asked, calm but his eyes showed a stern gaze. The chuunin knew he wanted no bullshit or poor evidence.

"Ah... eh... I dunno personally, sir. I was merely sent to alert you of the apparent situation by my superior." 'Phew, nice save.' The chuunin then thought to himself.

Grunting again in displeasure, the Hokage told the chuunin to wait while he got properly dressed and then to lead him to Naruto.

As Sarutobi got out with his Hokage attire, another chuunin approached at high speed from down the street.

"Hokage-sama!"

"Now what!" Sarutobi raised his voice, he was not pleased with how his sleep was apparently going to take a number, a late number.

"Sir! The Uchiha clan has been massacred!"

Sarutobi blanched deathly white. It almost looked like his permanent sleep had the first number.

_With Naruto_

"**So you see, Naruto-kun. Itachi had his reasons to do what he did."** Kami said as the light-screen dissolved into thin air.

Naruto sat down on the slab, hard, in absolute horror.

"It... can't... be true." He said with a blank look.

"**You would call me a liar, Naruto?"** Kami questioned harshly, a slight hint of thunder behind it.

"No! I believe you. How can I not? You're Kami for... your sakes." Naruto caught himself, despite the shock still present in his mind. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply otherwise." He then said with a lowered head.

Kami then spoke, his gentleness returned in his voice.

"**I understand, Naruto-kun. I forgive you."**

"Kami-sama?" Naruto addressed with respect mixed with worry.

"**Yes?"**

"This is so important, why do you want me to keep this a secret? Why can't I tell Sarutobi-jiji or Yokai-sensei?"

"**Because things must proceed in a certain way, Naruto-kun. You may tell your sensei that I helped you escape Itachi's genjutsu but nothing more."**

"I'm sorry if I'm out of line for asking, but what good does me knowing about it do if I can't tell anyone?" Naruto asked, his impatience gnawing at him.

"**Your knowledge of it, your heart and your nindo will all be used to great effect."** Kami said cryptically.

"Wow, really? That's awesome. That's great. And that does not answer my question!" Naruto said feeling a mix of awe, pride and frustration at not knowing what it really meant.

"**Worry not, I will always be with you and guide you when necessary."** Kami said gently, although Naruto could swear he heard a chuckle. Was Kami finding him amusing?

"I'm not worried." Naruto declared. "I think the answer to my question is pretty necessary, though." Naruto then mumbled.

"**Naruto-kun. Do I intimidate you?"** Kami asked.

"Huh? No. Wait, yes. No. I dunno." Naruto answered. "I am not really afraid, but I really respect you. Should I be afraid of you, Kami-sama?"

"**Is respect really all that you feel towards me?"** Kami asked, ignoring Naruto's question.

"Well..." Naruto thought a bit. "I like what you stand for, or I wouldn't accept you and the way of life me and sensei's people share. But when it comes to you personally, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do or feel so I just go along with how I usually treat people I just met. I'm sorry if that isn't to your liking." Naruto said frankly.

"**Good, Naruto-kun. Honesty and respect is the key to growing a relationship."** Kami stated.

"But what sort of relationship can us humans have with You?" Naruto asked, truly curious.

"**Father and child, Master and servant, Creator and creation, even as Commander and soldier. Different people have different ways of viewing me and choices of worship. Some of which are utterly despicable in my eyes."** Kami said.

"What? I though sensei's people all believe in you in one way only and they are the only ones who believe in you, myself included."

"**Indeed, but there are other creations where other people reside under different circumstances, and where I am also known under other names."**

Naruto was reeling from the magnitude of what that meant. "Woah. So this means people on some other... earth? commune with you in ways you like and don't like?"

"**Yes."**

"But what do you want the relationship to be?" Naruto asked.

"**One of love, of respect, of compassion. One of a family."** Kami said.

"..." Naruto was amazed, he never thought Kami would say that, at least not exactly that.

"Family?" He whispered.

"**Yes, Naruto-kun."** Kami answered.

"But why a family of humans full of faults? You're perfect, in every sense of the word, so why us?"

"**Like a child is a creation of its parents, so are all of you a child of Mine. And where a child fails to please his father, his father wont love him any less."**

"I've seen examples where that isn't the case. Some parents seem to grade their love by the performance of their children." Naruto said grimly.

"**As I have said, where a child fails to please his father, his father wont love him any less. I did not say that the child did or did not try to please his father."**

"I get it, those parents that don't follow your example failed to please you, but you don't care less for them." Naruto punched his palm in realization.

"**Your insight pleases Me, My son."**

"Wow. Wait, did you call me 'son'?"

Kami said nothing but Naruto felt what must've been the equivalent of Kami nodding

"I... I dunno what to say to that." Naruto said. "I can't say I see you as my father."

"**It takes time for a child to know how to speak the word they want to say to their parent."**

"You know, your parallels can get irritating sometimes." Naruto commented.

"**A child also gets frustrated when they don't understand what is being taught to them."** Kami said gently.

"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Naruto asked.

"**The more a child learns, the more he realizes how little he knows."** Kami said.

"Would you stop that? I have enough on my mind and your 'explanations' aren't helping."

"**I child must learn that he cannot always receive all that he asks for."**

"OK, now you're just messing with me." Naruto deadpanned.

"**A father also knows when to congratulate his child when he learns."** Kami said, this time with some mirth.

"What are you tal..." Naruto began but was interrupted by a feeling of... he didn't quite place it. He felt joy, tenderness, comfort and safety. Then the feeling went away, and its absence was slightly disheartening for the blonde.

"**Do not fear, My son. I will always be with you."** Kami said and then His presence was not as obvious anymore.

'What was that?' Naruto asked himself. 'It felt like... how it felt when jiji hugged me, only much more intense.'


	19. A Right Mess

Chapter 18: A Right Mess

Sarutobi entered his office, very weary of the nights events even though he's only just been alerted to them. He was followed by the shinobi who reported to him just a few minutes ago. Captain Atari met up with the Hokage on the way but was asked to complete his report when they arrived at the office, Sarutobi had to quite literally gather his wits as he went.

Sitting down, he asked for Atari to report his findings.

"Hokage-sama, the Uchiha clan is pretty much gone, the only survivors are Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha and possibly their mother; Mikoto Uchiha." Atari told the Hokage with a disciplined tone and expression.

"What are their exact status, Chuunin?" Sarutobi asked, keeping a determined front but wasn't totally recovered from the shock in reality.

"Sir, Mikoto-san is still in the the emergency operating room, status pending. Sasuke is in the intensive care unit, physically fine but under a genjutsu and the extent of his mental trauma is as yet uncertain. Itachi Uchiha is not accounted for and presumed to not be within the village."

Hiruzen mulled over the information for a brief moment then asked, "What's the status of Naruto Uzumaki?"

This time the shinobi who woke Sarutobi up replied. "As I reported to you earlier, Hokage-sama, Naruto Uzumaki is being held in one of our prison cells pending a full investigation of tonight's events, of which he is largely a part of."

"What is the presumed extent of his involvment?"

"I don't know exactly, sir, but my superior told me he was caught with breaking and entering..." But he was interrupted by the Hokage.

"If 'you' don't know then go find your superior, immediately!" Sarutobi shouted.

"Y... yes sir!" The startled chuunin saluted and bolted out the door.

The Hokage sat down and drew a heavy sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose in a mix of sorrow, irritation and tiredness. Captain Atari gently queried if he should resume his report as he had more to tell, which the Hokage gave the go ahead for.

"Well, sir, after examining the crime scene where the survivors were discovered I found evidence of a fierce battle between what seemed like a teenager, Genin most likely, and a grown up ninja of either Chuunin or Jounin level."

The Hokage quickly deducted that Naruto must have fought the murderer of the clan. After a minute he also came to the conclusion that Naruto also must have given pursuit of the murderer to the Hokage tower in an attempt to stop him from committing any further crimes. He pretty much knew how things must've happened from that point but cannot act on his gut instinct, he had to ask the questions to Naruto to confirm.

"I want Itachi found. If he's somewhere in the village I want him brought before me as soon as possible." Sarutobi ordered. Atari nodded and gestured for the remaining Chuunin in the room to take on the task.

Just then two Chuunin came into the office, passing by the departing shinobi.

"Hokage-sama." The two addressed simultaneously.

"If one of you are here to report regarding Naruto Uzumaki, you report first." Hiruzen ordered patiently.

"Hai." One of them said. "I report that Naruto is held in our prison for the following crimes; Breaking and entering the Hokage tower, knocking out guards on duty, attempting to steal the scroll of high level to forbidden jutsu and finally minor resistance of arrest."

"Change his status from arrested to held for investigative purposes." Sarutobi commanded.

"But, sir..." The shinobi protested.

"Do it! There's too much going on and so many questions raised that no one is arrested until the culprit or culprits are found out through our investigations. Bring him to the waiting area instead of that prison cell."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama." The Chuunin bowed and went to fetch Naruto.

Sarutobi then turned to the second shinobi that entered and nodded for him to go on with his report.

"Sir, my superior ordered me to report that his search of the village for Itachi Uchiha hasn't been successful. Itachi Uchiha is still missing."

"What? I have only given that order a handful of minutes ago."

"Sir, according to my superior there was reason enough to suspect that Itachi Uchiha might have been behind the massacre."

Sarutobi was surprised, not so much of the suspicion of Itachi, as he himself began to suspect him, but that someone else also was suspecting him already.

"Why is that?"

"He mentioned that Uzumaki Naruto claimed Itachi murdered Fugaku and Mikoto and attempted the same with Sasuke Uchiha and then that he was the one to perform the breaking and entering of the Hokage tower and attacking the guards and finally attempting to steal the scroll."

"Fetch me your superior at once, I wish to speak with him directly."

"At once!"

"Kami-sama! What a right mess this is." Sarutobi sighed deeply once again. Captain Atari merely nodded in agreement.

"Um... Hokage-sama." Atari addressed him gently as to not invoke more stress.

"Yes, Atari-san?"

"I would like to make a request. To be present of the debrief of Naruto Uzumaki."

Raising an eyebrow, Sarutobi asked why.

"Sir, I was at the crime scene personally and I saw evidence of, presumably, the kid fighting against, again presumably, Itachi Uchiha. I suppose the detective in me cannot rest until I know the full story. Also I would very much like to know how Naruto-san managed to seemingly keep Itachi on his toes, he's one of the Leaf Village's current shinobi aces." Atari said, candidly.

Sarutobi's eyes widened in realization, then had to smile. Up till this point he hadn't gone into much thought regarding the fight between Naruto and Itachi due to the discord that this night had brought. If it was true, then Naruto had immensely surprised the old man.

"Granted." He approved. "But before we do that, I need someone else here for Naruto's debriefing. Fetch me Yokai-san."

"Hai."

_Meanwhile with Naruto_

Naruto had finished his discussion with Kami regarding Itachi's reasons for his crimes about twenty minutes ago. Under any other circumstances, Naruto would be bored out of his mind. That was not the case as he had lots to ponder.

'Itachi. You murdered your entire clan, an unforgivable act, because they were all traitors, which is also an unforgivable thing. And I cannot reveal this to anyone. Why not? But what about Sasuke? How could you try something like that against your own brother? He wasn't even one of the traitors. Then there's Mikoto-san, she declared she supported Sarutobi-jiji, so why kill her? And why would you try to steal that jutsu scroll back there?'

From things making some sense to Naruto suddenly things made less sense the more he thought about it.

Suddenly the cell door rattled slightly, keys were being put into the keyhole.

'Huh, they're coming for me already?'

The door opened to reveal the Chuunin Sarutobi sent to get Naruto. "Uzumaki-san. You are required to follow me." He said formally.

"Uh, sure." Naruto said and followed.

They walked from the holding cell located underground beneath the tower and finally came to the waiting area for visitors of the Hokage.

"Please wait here, Hokage-sama will see you shortly."

"Alright."

The Chuunin went inside, no doubt to announce Naruto's arrival.

'Ok, so I can't say I know about his reasons. As far as believability goes I should be in the clear I couldn't possibly know anyway. Wait a minute! Kami never lies and would never condone anyone lying. Which means that I must not tell and yet must not lie. So if they ask, what do I do? Aaahhhh! Why are You putting me in this position?'

Naruto sighed in frustration. He also felt himself, little by little, getting exhausted. This night has been extremely taxing and his body is only now catching up to that fact.

"Naruto-san?" A Chuunin gently shook Naruto's shoulder.

"Huh?" Naruto jumped.

"Easy, there. You were spacing out. Hokage-sama will see you now."

"Oh, yeah."

They went inside. Naruto saw the Hokage, Yokai and some unknown Chuunin awaiting him.

"Have a seat, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi said and gestured at the empty chair in front of the desk.

"Thank you, Hokage-jiji."

Captain Atari stammered at first and then said; "You will address the Hokage as 'Hokage-sama'."

But Sarutobi held up his hand, smiling. "It's alright, Atari-san. Naruto and I go back and he's allowed to call me that." Returning his attention to Naruto, he started the debriefing.

"Naruto, I know you've been through a lot tonight. But we need you to go through everything that's happened from your point of view. Is that okay with you?"

Naruto shifted a little in his chair, he was nervous. Unknown to him, and to his benefit, the others thought this to be the shock of this night catching up to him. Ironically that wasn't inaccurate either.

Naruto proceeded to tell about how this evening and night went from his viewpoint up until his arrest, leaving out the details about his jutsus (much to Atari's chargin since that meant his questions regarding Naruto's ability to stand up to Itachi remained unanswered for a bit longer), Kami's intervention and revelation about Itachi and Itachi's vague statements regarding his actions.

Finally he finished his recounting. The Hokage puffed on his pipe in thought, Yokai looked deeply troubled and Atari was pretty much in the same boat.

"So there was nothing to indicate what Itachi's reasons were or what his intentions are?" Atari then asked Naruto.

As the question was asked, Naruto felt an idea (wait, felt?) come to him.

"Well, there may be one thing..." Naruto said, tapping his finger on his chin in thought.

"What?" Atari asked, all ears. Sarutobi and Yokai listened intently as well.

"Well, I distinctly heard Itachi mumble 'something' to Mikoto-san before he... removed the katana from her torso." The memory was still haunting his mind. "If you want to know what that was, you should ask Mikoto-san. Which reminds me, is she alive or was she killed on the spot?" Naruto asked with much concern.

"Last report from the doctors indicate that she's out of immediate danger but isn't out of the woods yet. She's lost a lot of blood. It would seem, however, that Itachi missed any vital organs and just punctured a lung, though he was extremely close to wounding her heart. However, the genjutsu she's under..."

"What? She's under a genjutsu?" Naruto nearly shouted.

"Yes, Naruto. One that we cannot identify or release her from at this time. For all intents and purposes, she's in a coma."

"What about Sasuke? Is he ok?" Naruto shouted and stood up, very worried for his dear friend.

"He's physically unharmed. Though everyone's concerned about his possible mental state. He also was under a genjutsu but that one wasn't difficult to release for some reason." Sarutobi said, frowning.

Naruto sat back down, his eyes glazed and staring at nothing. For those that knew Naruto, this was a disheartening sight.

Yokai then spoke for the first time; "Hokage-sama. If Naruto's not needed here further, I would like to take him back home to rest. Any further questions could and should wait until tomorrow."

"Yes, indeed. You're dismissed. Atari-san, I want Itachi Uchiha put on the Bingo Book as a missing nin, set his bounty for 50 million ryo."

"Uh... Hai!" Atari saluted. He was gawking for a fraction of a second at the bounty amount before his response.

"Oh, and Atari-san."

"Hai?"

"Anything further regarding this night's events will be taken care of in the morning. I need my sleep, now more than ever. Understand?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I shall point this out to the shinobi of the night-shift."

"Very good, dismissed."

The rest of the night went by silently, for some it was an ominous silence.


	20. Not A Ninja Yet

Chapter 19: Not A Ninja Yet

The next morning everything seemed to start of normally in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Civilians going about their businesses and shinobi their duties, starting their rest or shift respectively.

However, unbeknownst to the civilians, this morning was anything but normal.

The shinobi coming for the morning shift were tasked with taking over the handling of the corpses of an entire clan, the Uchiha. As they were filled in on the night's horrible events, they were flabbergasted and shaken to the core. But given a little time, they recovered and began relocating the bodies, who were put in bodybags during the night, for a mass burial later in the afternoon.

For Naruto, however, the morning came too soon. His sleep was marred with dreams, make that nightmares, of what he's been through, thus causing his rest to be anything but restful. Yokai decided to sleep over at Naruto's place to make sure that neither Itachi or anyone else came for him to rid of any traces. Yokai had always been a light sleeper and was easily awakened by Naruto's tossing and turning as well as his moans and groans caused by his reliving the horrors of the night.

He felt for the boy, but didn't wake him up. He was well aware that he may have nightmares for a time and only counseling and friends may help him get past this. And even if he didn't get much rest, he did get some and that's what he needed right now. If needed, Naruto could be put to sleep through the use of genjutus or a drug or even some other jutsu Yokai didn't know but the Leaf doctors did.

As the sun rose from behind the horizon, Naruto and Yokai woke up. Naruto, as Yokai expected, looked like a zombie, even after breakfast. Walking towards the Hokage tower, Yokai decided to check his pulse.

"Rough night?" Yokai said, his tone held concern as well as a little humor, attempting to lift the mood a bit.

Naruto glared daggers at Yokai. Rusty, dull daggers.

"I've had better nights." Naruto replied dryly.

"No doubt. You look like you've been through three days worth of politics lessons in one day."

That brought a chuckle from Naruto. "That bad, huh? Yeah, I relived what happened."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not really, I don't see what good that will do. Right now I just want Sasuke to get better and wake up, and of course Mikoto-san to recover. That would lift a great weight off my chest." Naruto said in a low tone.

"But, Naruto, You've been through so much in only one night what most genin wont go through in total before reaching Chuunin rank. Heck, even most seasoned ninja aren't experienced in this kind of awful business. And any ninja, or in your case a ninja in training, are required to have a talk with someone after they've either made their first kill or been through something of last night's caliber. This is to ensure upcoming shinobi wont lose their minds, not to mention their humanity, in the line of duty."

"Maybe." Naruto somberly replied. "But not right now. As I said, I want to know if Sasuke and Mikoto-san make it first. I don't think anything before that will help me. Do you get what I'm saying, sensei?"

"I suppose so, Naruto. By the way, you didn't mention in detail how you managed to combat Itachi and not lose." Yokai said.

"Do you have so little faith in me, sensei?" Naruto asked, hurt.

"No, that's not why I asked." Yokai reassured.

"Hehe, I know." Naruto grinned. He was faking his hurt feelings.

"Phew, I'm so glad I'm in the clear." Yokai wiped some non-existing sweat. He was glad that Naruto wasn't so affected that he went into a depression. 'That boy is stronger than even I thought. To go through such a intensely dramatic, traumatizing, not to mention historic event and come out so strong. No, Naruto, I have even greater faith in you now.'

"About the fight, sensei." Naruto then looked straight ahead and somewhat towards the ground.

"Yes?"

"I had to resort to one of the jutsus you taught me." Naruto said, looking like he was ashamed.

"I thought as much. But you did the right thing, Naruto. He is a traitor now and a strong one at that. If I could have told you what to do, I would have given you the go ahead anyway. I'm proud of you. What did you use?"

"Ghost Style: Phantom Squad." Naruto replied, looking relieved.

"Hmm, interesting choice. How come?"

"I assumed that if I tried to take him on one-on-one I would lose fast, in fact I tried that approach before coming to that decision. It worked great for a while, he was confused and even got hit once."

"Oh, that surprises me. Where?"

"His left flank. I guess he underestimated me, but a lot of luck was part of it too."

"Not bad, Naruto. What happened next?"

"Well, his KI, like, exploded and I wasn't prepared for its intensity. I'm guessing he noticed I flinched but the phantoms didn't and knew then where I was. But before he could make a move my phantom squad intercepted him and he chose to run away."

"I see. If I were in your shoes I would've done the same thing." Yokai nodded in approval, which Naruto noticed and smiled proudly.

Naruto then asked, "Hey, sensei? Can we stop by the hospital later today? I want to visit Sasuke and Mikoto-san and see how they're doing."

"Certainly, Naruto."

The rest of the walk went on in companionable silence or talk of nothing in particular. When they arrived at the Hokage's office door they heared arguments from the inside. Since this was happening during their appointed time with the Hokage, Yokai decided he would knock and see if they would be allowed in anyway.

"Come in." Called the Hokage, with a firm yet also annoyed tone.

"Hokage-jiji. We're here as you ordered." Naruto stated with a grin, pleased to once again see his adopted grandfather.

"Ah, yes. Come in you two, I think you should be here for this as well. These three have some concerns they made apparent to me and it's only fair that you're here for it." Sarutobi said with a frown directed at his three, so called, advisors Naruto and his sensei noticed as they walked in.

"Hokage-sama. This is highly inappropriate. The ky... Uzumaki-san shouldn't be privy to this discussion.

Naruto, believing the word Homura was about to speak was 'kid' didn't think any further than that as he wondered what it was they should be included in.

Yokai, however, was more observant at how the word sounded as it started before it was aborted, he knew it was the beginning of the word 'kyuubi', leading him to believe they were about to refer to Naruto as the 'kyuubi' or 'kyuubi brat'. Hiding his burning anger at the 'advisor's' ignorance and stupidity he asked what came to his mind.

"What is this about? It's perfectly obvious that Naruto is part of it as your Hokage hinted it. As Naruto is my student that makes it my business as well."

Danzo whirled around, surprisingly fast and agile for a man that is somewhat crippled in the legs and handicapped in his right arm. With distaste he answered.

"This is village matters which involves... Naruto-_san_. You may be his sensei but you're still an outsider and as such must leave this room. And the nature of what we're discussing is not for the brat to hear, despite it involving him."

The Hokage stood from his seat. "Danzo! This man has proven his loyalty as a friend and ally of Konoha and is a Konoha citizen in all but title. Him being a shinobi who works part-time for us also gives him added privileges. That includes being present for his student's hearing."

"Hearing? What is going on, Hokage-sama?" Yokai all but demanded.

"We're here to determine whether Uzumaki-san is completely innocent of last night's events or not and how severe any punishments should be." Koharu stated.

Naruto was absolutely shocked and could only stand there with his mouth agape. Barely containing his outrage, Yokai demanded why and if the 'advisors' have read the reports at all.

"Yes, we have Yokai-san. But we're not completely satisfied that they are accurate." Danzo stated.

"And what, if I may ask, is lacking in said reports?" Yokai said in a chilly tone.

"For one, Naruto-san failed to mention just how he successfully fended off one of our strongest Jounin and ANBU Captains despite being a mere genin-in training. Secondly, we have no witnesses to verify the Uzumaki's description of the events involving himself." Homura said, haughtily.

"Why is my word not good enough!" Naruto shouted angrily. "I never go back on my word, it's my Way of the Ninja."

"Hmpf. You may be capable with your chakra, young Uzumaki. But you're not a Ninja yet, you're a novice. Therefore your claim is void until you swear the Shinobi Oath upon succesful initiation as a Genin." Danzo replied.

"If that's not enough for you, then I as his sensei vouch for his word. My own ninja way forbids lying and to keep your word and this is something I've tutored into Naruto who has taken it as his own."

"I have no doubt you're convinced of that, Yokai-san. However, Naruto-san, as previously stated, is still not even a Genin and does not fall under Ninja rules and guidelines, yet." Koharu said.

Yokai looked to Sarutobi who returned the look with a regreftul one, in this case he couldn't do that much.

"Laws and regulations must be followed, without exceptions." Danzo said, smugly.

"Very well, you will find nothing out of place after this hearing is finished." Yokai said, crossing his arms.

"What we need is a witness mainly, as Naruto-san's word is in question and any further interrogation will..."

"Interrogation?" Yokai exclaimed angrily. "He will NOT be subjected to interrogation as he isn't convicted of any crimes."

"Danzo, he is right. Until either his innocence or his guilt is proven without a doubt, he will not be subjected to torture and interrogation." Sarutobi said, his tone carrying a clear warning.

"My apologies, Hokage-sama." Danzo said neutrally. "I meant to say 'interview'. Any further interview with Naruto-san will not produce any viable evidence, though an explanation of how he fought to a standstill with Itachi Uchiha is required for comparison's sake with the future witness."

"Naruto is under an oath given to me to not divulge the jutsus I've taught him until given permission otherwise by me. And what witness are you referring to?" Yokai asked.

"Your internal agreement has no weight compared to matters regarding Konoha, Naruto-san is still a citizen of Konoha and as such will have no choice but to tell all that he is ordered to." Danzo said. "As for the future witness, why I'm referring to Sasuke-san and Mikoto-san of course. There are no other possible witnesses according to everyone's reports."

"I'm afraid you're wrong there, Danzo." Sarutobi said, sternly.

"About what, Hokage-sama?"

"Naruto is indeed a Konoha citizen and as such will be required to tell all he knows when given an order to do so by a shinobi who is automatically a superior, it is a Shinobi village we live in after all." He answered.

Danzo wanted to smirk but knew there was more coming.

"However, the law states that should a citizen learn clan jutsus from a foreign source and this foreign source demand that the jutsus not be shown or told about in front of shinobi of this village then we have no choice but to agree if we're to keep the peace. If Naruto was a shinobi instead of a citizen he would instead be under the shinobi oath to not only follow the laws but required to help uphold them even, on top of what I already said about keeping the peace. Which in this case means that instead of having to follow the order to tell all he knows of the jutsus he utilized he has to follow the greater law to preserve the peace by following his foreign sensei's wishes."

"By your own words then, Hokage-sama, this foreign shinobi does not fall under that." Danzo said neutrally.

Frowning at Danzo, Sarutobi asked how he came to that conclusion.

"Simple, he's one sole ninja and has no clan."

"I assure you that he does, Danzo, and his clan is considerable in size. Even if it wasn't we would only tarnish our own reputation, and with that lower our mission request rate, if we went so low as to use such underhanded means."

"Very well, then. What clan is that?"

"You are not privy to that information, Danzo. And that goes to anyone else unless I and Yokai-san deem them otherwise."

"Hokage-sama, if we are not allowed that information, Yokai still has to inform..."

"Are you questioning my word, Danzo? Are you saying that you advisors are greater than the Hokage?" Sarutobi roared as he sat up so violently his chair toppled over and unleashed a frightening amount of Killing Intent. "My word alone is enough to confirm that Yokai-san is from a clan of note and thusly he falls under the law I just told you."

"We did not mean to imply that, Hokage-sama." Homura said, a bit shaken. "We merely wanted the investigation to proceed as effectively as possible."

Sarutobi sat down on his chair again, which had been restored to its previous position by an ANBU on guard in the room.

"As you should." The Hokage grumbled. "But you will keep within the boundaries of investigation regulations. Do I make myself clear? If I notice that you are or learn of it there will be hell to pay." Hiruzen declared angrily.

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nodded with a stern expression. "Alright then, as you have said yourselves. The only thing remaining for you now is to hear the witnesses' accounts of the massacre and Naruto's part in it."

"Hokage-sama, we ask that Naruto be hold while we wait for the witnesses to awake. He is, after all, a possible culprit."

"Denied, I've already decreed that Naruto's to be kept under watch by ANBU since he's a vital part of the investigation. That is enough since he will not be able to leave the village or anything else to compromise this investigation under the ANBU's watch. Besides, we do not know when they will wake up and we cannot hold one of our own for possibly a considerable amount of time just for waiting."

"He's not a ninja, yet, Hokage-sama." Koharu said.

"No but he's a ninja in training, which grants him a few, very basic, ninja rights such as certain legal treatments. One being he's not to be treated like he's a civilian or foreign ninja in investigative matters until proven guilty. Now, by your own words, we will have to await the witnesses' awakening before proceeding further, which means your business here is concluded for now, dismissed!"

The advisors left with frowns on their faces.

The Hokage sat down with a sigh and rubbed his eyes. His sleep, while not marred as Naruto's was, was still short and troubled and he felt it now the most. He opened his eyes and saw Yokai wearing a frown and appearing to be in thought. Naruto was...

"Naruto?" Sarutobi asked, concerned.

Naruto just stood there staring at nothing, frowning and gritting his teeth in anger and frustration.

"Naruto? Are you OK?" Yokai asked as he took notice upon the Hokage addressing Naruto.

Clenching his fists and hiding his eyes under his bangs, Naruto said with much anger and bitterness.

"Why, Jiji, Sensei?"

"... Why what exactly, Naruto?" Sarutobi asked gently.

"Why doesn't anybody believe me?"

"We believe you, Naruto." Yokai said soothingly, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"And I think more will follow." The Hokage said.

"Huh?" Was the only thing Naruto could say to that.

"The investigators of last night were at first skeptical to your story but as they uncovered more and more they came to believe what you've said. This will spread and you will have more ninja on your side in this matter."

But Yokai had a thought, a terrible one. "Hokage-sama? What about the villagers?"

"What about them?"

"Has it occurred to you that those three might start a series of rumors to undermine Naruto's innocence among the villagers?"

"What? Why would they do that?" Naruto shouted in shock.

"It's because of matters that goes beyond you, Naruto." The Hokage said, considering Yokai's words.

"As in, it's not really about me?"

"Exactly."

"Well, what's it about then?"

"Politics." Yokai said. It wasn't a lie, this was as much about politics as it was about the fox inside of Naruto. "They are trying to get to the Hokage through your case, Naruto."

"Oh. Anything I can do to help, Jiji?"

Hiruzen chuckled at Naruto's consideration. Even when he himself is so troubled and in need of comfort he still finds it in his heart to worry about others and wanting to help them.

"I'll handle it, Naruto. You just go visit Sasuke. The meeting we were supposed to have was more of a formality anyway and can be considered done at this point."

"Alright! Thanks a bunch, Jiji." Naruto exclaimed happily as he went out the door.

Yokai chuckled warmly, Naruto's nature always managed to brighten up any situation. Yet, he had to discuss further what to do about the inevitable information and propaganda war regarding Naruto that was about to emerge.

"So what do we do about those upcoming rumors those three will spread?"

"I wish I knew, Yokai-dono. I wish I knew." Sarutobi sighed, deeply troubled.

"Can't we start our own rumors?"

"We don't have to start anything, Yokai-dono. Remember what I said about our ninja coming to believe Naruto? Well, they will do it for us. Sadly, the bad rumors will still do their damage and harm Naruto's reputation even further. Despite the good rumors that will circulate, people will treat Naruto even harsher soon. I can only pray that Naruto's generation will stay with him."

Yokai nodded. He didn't like not being able to do anything, but he knew he couldn't help Naruto, he could only pray to Kami to help Naruto.

'The feeling of helplessness is the bane of all shinobi', those words have always rung true in the minds of ninja across the Elemental Nations. Yokai was certainly agreeing with it right now.


	21. Awakening of Aggression

Ok, I'm using music tracks again to further the emotions and excitement of the story. As before you open new tabs on your browser and these tabs should have the music track on youtube (provided you don't already own the tracks themselves). Just search the name of the song as I've written it and you should find it as the top hit.

First pair of *s is: Naruto OST Despair

Second pair of *s is: Naruto OST Ripple

Enjoy!

Chapter 20: Awakening of Aggression

Naruto arrived at the hospital and got directions to Sasuke's room, from a little reluctant receptionist, but Naruto didn't notice because he was too focused on seeing Sasuke.

Naruto walked into Sasuke's room. He was lying on a bed with no medical equipment monitoring his condition save for one that measures brain activity and heart rate. Sasuke was physically fine, just as Naruto was told.

Taking a seat, Naruto began telling of how he stood up to Itachi, even though Sasuke couldn't hear him. Naruto, like most people, has heard that talking to unconscious people, at least those in hospitals as far as Naruto knew, could help in their recovery.

"You should have seen it, teme. Even Itachi's sharingan wasn't a match for the great Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto told with dramatic gestures to underline the story.

Suddenly, Sasuke stirred and groaned quietly.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke seemed to mumble something. Naruto leaned in to listen.

"What did you say, Sasuke?"

"I said "Shut up, you're giving me a headache, dobe"."

Naruto, despite the insult, grinned broadly. "Yahoooo! You're all better. Good to have you back with us, teme. You gave us quite the scare you broody bastard."

Ignoring Naruto's taunts, Sasuke tried to sit up only to fall back down as his head throbbed painfully like it had been a punching bag for a professional boxer and prevented him from doing much of anything save talking.

"You ok?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"I've had better awakenings." He replied with discomfort.

Sasuke's eyes suddenly went wide and looked frantically around him.

"Mother? Mother? Where's my mother?" He yelled in increasing despair.

*Naruto took a firm but reassuring hold of his shoulders and said soothingly. "Mikoto-san is alive, but still out of it, Sasuke." Naruto believed mentioning that she was in a comatose-like state, perhaps even truly comatose, right now was not something Sasuke needed to know at the moment.

Sasuke calmed down considerably and laid back again, though his worry was still present.

"What happened, Naruto?" He asked, fear evident in his voice. Fear of what he hoped was a nightmare in fact was an all too real event.

*Naruto looked down at the floor, very uncomfortable with the task before him.

"Sasuke. Itachi has killed your entire clan. Only you, Mikoto-san and himself remain of it."

Sasuke's shock was immense if his face was any indication. Naruto suspected there was more than just shock he was feeling and the different emotions must be warring for domination. Finally, Sasuke settled for seething fury.

"Where is he?" He asked with a growl through clenched teeth.

"Sasuke, calm down, you shouldn't..."

"I ASKED, WHERE IS HE?" Sasuke all but roared at Naruto who got so startled the chair he was sitting on was balancing on two legs, almost tipping all the way before he regained balance.

"Woah, Sasuke. Don't scream at me like that, man. You're likely to put 'me' on a hospital bed." Naruto said, half upset, half startled still.

"Quit with the nonsense, dobe and tell me where that soulless monster is!" Sasuke shouted, though less loud.

"What's going on in here?" A nurse came in with a worried face. Naruto didn't know if she came because of seeing Sasuke's medical readings or if the shouting alerted her, though at the very least she must've heard on the way to the room.

"Sasuke woke up just a minute ago and he's asking for his older brother." Naruto explained.

"He's no brother of mine, not anymore." Sasuke spat.*

The nurse came and did a quick examination of Sasuke, to which Sasuke complied with under an awful mood.

"You look like you're just about alright, though I have a feeling the doctor will want you to stay for at least a day for observation. I'll go fetch him to confirm." The nurse said, smiling, before she left.

"Naruto. Where. Is. Itachi?" Sasuke asked once again, his patience on its last legs.

"As far as I can tell, Sasuke, he's not in the village anymore. He got away. As for where he went, I dunno. I don't think anyone knows but Itachi himself." Naruto answered, an apologetic look on his face and his tone subdued.**

A minute passed with Sasuke just staring straight ahead, like he wanted to will Itachi to appear before him before murdering him with his eyes. To no avail, as the wall was all that could be seen. Hmm, wasn't that spot on the wall as white as the rest of it a moment before?

"Err... Sasuke? Teme?" Naruto carefully and slowly shook Sasuke's shoulder.

"What?" Sasuke snapped.

"I'm so glad you're alright. I was worried I lost one of my precious friends while I was busy with all that's happened."

Despite his still present wrath, Sasuke did calm down a little and managed a small glance of appreciation before turning to look up at the ceiling in deep thought, of what Naruto could only guess. His face was too unreadable.

"Do you need anything, Sasuke? Can I go get something for you?"

"No. Leave me alone." Sasuke said. The rather rude answer surprised Naruto, though in hindsight he understood and instantly forgave him.

"Alright then. I'll be back sometime later, Sasuke." And with that Naruto went for the door. But before he made his exit he said to Sasuke over his shoulder. "Since you're awake, the Hokage and his investigation shinobi will want to question you about what happened soon. Just so you know." Naruto then left Sasuke to his thoughts.

As Naruto exited the hospital, he was suddenly propelled backwards a small distance before landing on his back, on the floor of the hospital. Before he could react, he was viciously barraged with punches and stomping feet before it all stopped as suddenly as it all started. Dazed and painfully aware of the minor bludgeoning injuries he sustained, he rose to his feet, all the while wondering what the hell happened. Then he took notice of an annoying series of sounds. Voices to be exact.

Naruto turned around and saw...

A horde of fangirls. Fangirls who were worried sick about Sasuke, the object of their, in Naruto's opinion, misguided affection. They were all asking in rapid succession about where Sasuke was, how badly injured he was and if they could see him. The poor, unfortunate nurse who happened to have the task as a clerk today was positively on the brink of panicking from the overwhelming sensory input as well as oppressive inquisition of a horde of worried fangirls.

Naruto took pity upon the poor woman and decided to try and relieve her of her unfair predicament.

"Girls. Girls! May I have your attention, please?" Naruto shouted to the girls. They all as one turned to Naruto. Most of them were indifferent but a few, unfortunately, seemed to also have membership in the anti-Naruto club and it showed on their faces.

"What do 'you' want, Naruto-baka?" One said with distaste, hidden within the group from Naruto's view.

"Nothing much." Naruto said, unaffected by the rude girl. "I just thought I could tell you about how Sasuke's doing."

This brought undivided attention from all girls, including the hostile ones, their animosity all but forgotten. For the moment anyway.

"Sasuke is just fine. Shaken, of course, but fine. He's awake, but no one's allowed to see him because the doctor want to keep him under observation (which was true) and he needs time deal with all that's happened to him." Naruto said to the girls, looking each girl in the eye, or at least the majority of the group).

At the news that Sasuke was alright, the group released a collective breath all of them had held since they learned of the tragedy. Then, they all sighed in unison because they couldn't see him, causing Naruto to sweat-drop at the sight. Then they all, once again in unison, started to moan and cry in apparent sorrow for Sasuke's painful experience. A second sweat-drop appeared beside the first one on Naruto's neck.

"How come 'you' were allowed to see him then?" Asked the same girl, whom Naruto still couldn't see.

"Simple, he was still unconscious when I arrived to visit him and he woke up during my visit."

"What did he say?"

"Did he mention me?"

"Why would he even look your way, much less mention you, Jun-yariman (Jun-slut/bimbo)?"

"As if you're an expert in what Sasuke would or wouldn't do, Mai-koeda (Mai-twig, she's rather thin)."

Then all hell broke loose as they all began to shout out their disagreements and insults.

"Girls, please. This is a hospital, you shouldn't shout like that in here." Naruto shouted.

"Stay out of this!" They all shouted back with angry glares. But to everyone's surprise, Naruto didn't react like most males would in situations like that. He became angry right back.

"NO! I wont! You girls are in a hospital where wounded ninja and sick people are being treated, SASUKE INCLUDED! They all deserve, no, 'need' to recuperate in peace and if I can help it I will make it so! Now, you will all get out and finish this argument somewhere else or I will personally throw each and everyone of you out, one by one if necessary. IS THAT CLEAR?" Naruto shouted, a really angry look on his face.

The girls were all shocked. Few have ever been stupid enough to come between them and their crush or defy them when they were, in their eyes, rightfully angry or irritated, and none so far have dared to do that again as they've been beaten senseless by the girls afterward.

But here was this guy, defying them and even shouting back at them. The nerve! Very soon, roughly half of the girls had recovered from their shock and instead turned furious and started to advance on Naruto with a lethal gleam in their eyes. Naruto, however, stood his ground and prepared to defend himself, while planning to lead them outside the hospital.

"That's enough you guys." Said the girl whom Naruto couldn't see before.

Everyone turned to the owner of the voice. All the girls who had moved against Naruto were surprised by who had spoken, more than the actual statement.

"Are you kidding us, Sakura? This guy dared to shout at us and threaten us. He needs to be taken down a peg or two."

The girl, now known as Sakura, emerged from the other group who stayed behind.

"No, because he's absolutely right. We were wrong to argue in the hospital in the first place, and Sasuke deserves every bit of rest he can get." Sakura said, her voice carrying a tone of slight shame.

"She's right, you know." Came another girl, one with blonde hair. "We should just leave."

Murmurs could be heard from the group closest to Naruto. He could tell they agreed. Then to Naruto's surprise, the closest group jumped him and dragged him outside in a flash. The other group of girls were startled by the move but went after. Naruto was struggling to get free but the girls were stronger than they looked.

'Why are they always stronger than they appear? And their strength always appears when they're ticked off. It goes against the laws of physics I tell you!' he cried out in his mind.

The girls dragged him to the park, which was really only a minute's walk away from the hospital. They then unceremoniously tossed him in front of the group, making him land with a somewhat painful thud, making him grunt in discomfort.

"Now that we're out of earshot of the hospital, we can resume our punishment." A girls said, cracking her knuckles. Just then the other group of girls arrived.

Naruto just stood up and glared back at the offending girls, once again surprising them but not enough to really shake their resolve.

"I'm all for scolding and punishment if I've done something wrong. Then I would deserve it. But I know for a fact I only did the right thing here, so there's no way I'll sit still while you try to punish me for something I don't deserve." Naruto said coldly while assuming a combat stance.

That shook a few of the girls' resolve. Mainly those who were witnesses of Naruto's combat prowess when fighting in his class' spars just outside the academy. Others were simply shaken because they've not met with any resistance from boys when the girls were angry with them because of their supposed chivalry. They haven't had to fear getting punched back.

"Hah! Like you can fight against this many." Said a purple haired girls, haughtily.

"Come on, Ami. Stop this already." Said the blonde from before, she tried to lightly drag Ami away.

But Ami removed Ino's hand and violently pushed Ino, Ino stumbled on a tree's root and landed on it with her rear, she yelped in pain. Ami ignored it as she spoke.

"No way, Ino. He's gonna get what's coming to him."

"One, your numbers mean nothing." Naruto said, darkly, cracking his neck. "Two, if you don't stop this meaningless fight, you will get right back what you're so eager to give. And three, once you've started, I will finish it, with some extra pain for hurting Ino."

"Oh, a hero-wannabe, eh? You're one cocky bastard, Naruto-baka. Come on girls, let's get him!" Ami screamed her attack as she and the bulk of her group charged Naruto.

*Ami was first to throw her punch, but Naruto easily sidestepped her attack and used her momentum to trip her over. Not even looking back, he grabbed the next girl's hand and made an overhead throw at Ami, making the two girls collide and fall into a heap.

Turning around, Naruto saw three more girls attacking at once from three directions. Naruto quickly grabbed the middle girl by the shoulders, jumped over her all the while holding her and used the momentum to throw her quite a distance as he landed on his feet. She landed on her belly in a sandbox, the sand absorbing the majority of the impact, yet leaving enough force to knock the wind out of her. He then flipped back so he came between the two still confused attackers. As his back-flip came to a stop he once again used the momentum of his move to power a double swipe of his arms. His arms collided with the foreheads of the girls, making them fall back and ungracefully land on their backs.

Ami had by now just gotten back on her feet and once again charged at him. Naruto, seing that the other girls were still out of it decided to give this girl his own punishment.

She punch him again, but he grabbed her hand and bent down to make her come into a position to make a fireman's carry move. He stood when her hand was passed his head and her body was lifted up and just as fast dropped down on the other side of Naruto, who then backed away slightly.

"You have had two shots at me and not one hit yet, Ami. I'll give you this one chance to back away. If you don't, I'll kick your ass." Naruto said.

"Never!" Ami schreeched and charged at Naruto. She tried to make a kick, but once again Naruto was too fast for her. He grabbed her leg and pushed back, making her loose her balance. He then immediately jumped forward with the leg still in his grasp, making her land on her back and her leg swipe in an arc above her. When Naruto landed, he pressed down on her leg. This strained her Sciatic nerve and she cried out loudly in pain.

"That was for Ino-san." Naruto declared.** Standing beside a writhing Ami, Naruto continued. "I've just strained your Sciatic nerve in your hips. Don't worry, this is only temporary. But you'll have lots of pain when you try to move as much as 10 degrees with the leg. You should be fine in about 2-3 days, somewhat stiff for a bit, but fine." Naruto said, his tone carried no sympathy.

(Note: I'm not perfectly certain this is medically correct, but for this story it is.)

The other attackers by this point have lost all will to fight and ran away. Ami just lay there, too focused on dealing with the pain to care about anything else for the moment.

Naruto made his way over to Ino who had recovered from her fall. The girls who were spectators of the fight were awestruck by Naruto's skills in fighting. So far no one has seen how Naruto would fare in an outnumbered fight as all spars were 1 on 1. Even though none of the girls were ninjas, they still had a little knowledge of how to do basic fighting moves. Naruto, however, had not only won, he had elegantly outclassed the girls without really hurting any of them, save for Ami.

"Are you alright, Ino-san?" Naruto asked, real concern on his face.

"Yeah, thanks Naruto." Ino said gratefully. "Also, thanks for not harming the others."

"Oh, well I think I got my point across without doing that. Besides, I want to become Hokage. And the Hokage is meant to protect and guide the people under him. Not harm them." Naruto said with a grin, looking in the direction the girls had run.

Ino blushed a bit. She initially thought he did that out of chivalry, she was beginning to think he might not be familiar with the concept. But she guessed his actual reason was just as noble. She was also touched that Naruto would fight on her behalf like that. Even if he wasn't aware of it, it was a rather chivalrous act. Then there's the fact he fought elegantly as well as honorably and has such a grand dream all added up to make Naruto an even more interesting guy to Ino. And his smile only added to his charm.

"How's your... rear, Ino-san? Can you walk ok?" Naruto asked.

"What? Oh, it's not too bad. I can walk just fine." Ino waved away his concern.

"Maybe you should just get a little something for the pain from the hospital, we are close by after all." Naruto suggested.

"Yeah, I think I will." Ino said, cheerfully.

"Ok, good. Well I got something I gotta do so I'll see you guys, er... girls around." Naruto said as he turned around and left the area.

The rest of the girls surrounded Ino.

"Wow, did you see his moves?"

"Yeah, he's pretty cool. Still not quite like Sasuke, but cool."

"So, Ino, are you falling for the knight in a black ninja outfit?"

"You should go out with him, you're both blondes after all."

"Wait, what? What's that got to do with anything. And I'm not falling for anyone."

While the girls were arguing amongst themselves, a pink haired girl looked in the direction Naruto headed, a ponderous look on her face.


	22. Minds, Hearts and a Sizable Stomach

Chapter 21: Minds, Hearts and a Sizable Stomach

The following day saw Naruto once again visiting Sasuke in the hospital. Upon entering his room, Sasuke seemed to be just about the same as Naruto left him yesterday, a dark and brooding look on his face.

'Back to his old self.' Naruto thought, chuckling silently to himself. Though, deep down, he was anything but convinced of that.

"Yo, Sasuke. How's the hospital's hospitality treating you?" Naruto greeted cheerfully.

Sasuke's mood apparently had improved slightly since yesterday, for he broke from his brooding to answer back.

"Oh, it's you." Sasuke said neutrally.

Naruto sweat-dropped. "Don't get too excited to see me, teme." He said sarcastically. He then continued, just as sarcastically. "I mean, I only fought to save your life as well as Mikoto-san's and have been worried sick for one of my best friends since this whole mess began. Naw, I don't deserve that much of a welcome, oh no."

Sasuke had the grace to chuckle and look slightly ashamed at that.

"Yeah, you're right Naruto. Sorry. I am glad to see you, and to see that you came out alright from facing my... former family member." Sasuke said, his dark mood largely gone. Which really only left his still somewhat stoic appearance. Naruto dryly noted that it has to be a genetic trait of the Uchiha to have stoic appearances.

"Speaking of which, Naruto. How did you face off against Itachi and survive to tell the tale?" Sasuke asked with both eyebrows raised as he realized the skills one has to possess to keep up with him.

"Eh, it is not as easy to explain as I'd like, teme. In the fight I had to use special techniques which I am still not allowed to reveal openly by my sensei. Let me tell you this though, they helped me to stall him long enough to force him to retreat for some reason. Though until that happened I was also quite lucky to land a hit on him, slightly hampering his ability to fight." Naruto told without boasting, this wasn't a time for such and Naruto knew that.

"You hit him? Where and how damaging was it?" Sasuke asked, astounded.

"Well, I didn't hit him personally, rather one of my phantoms did. They don't do physical damage, instead they are best used as a diversion or less-than-lethal tactics. I can't say more about that, sorry."

"I see." Sasuke replied, considering something. "But if you landed a hit, he must have been surprised but also immediately stopped underestimating you. Which means he consequently stepped up his attacks. He did, didn't he?"

"Yeah, that's right. He blasted me with a huge amount of KI and stunned me briefly. Luckily my phantoms were immune so they could cover me while I recovered. But that's when Itachi decided to bolt for the door."

"What happened then?"

"I gave chase to him. He went for the Hokage tower and tried to steal something, but I stopped that."

Sasuke looked down again. "How many guards did he kill?" He asked in a low voice.

"That's just it, he only knocked them out, every single one he came across. No one died."

Sasuke looked very puzzled by that. "Why would he discriminate his kills like that?"

"When I confronted him, he said something about that part of his goal which require killing had already been accomplished."

"So his goals included murdering only his own clan, his own family, his own flesh and blood!" Sasuke seethed.

"It would appear so." Naruto said, sadly. He wanted to let Sasuke in on what he had learned from Kami Himself. But the time wasn't right for that. He really hated that part of his divinely given duty.

Sasuke looked up after a moment, gazing right into Naruto's eyes, his own full of worry.

"How's my mother"

"She's still out of it, Sasuke."

"How can she still be out of it?" Sasuke raised his voice.

"I don't think getting a blade shoved through your chest is something you recover that easily from."

"Don't you dare kid around, Naruto. Konoha has some of the best medics and doctors around, she would've been fine by now." Sasuke angrily argued.

"It's not like I enjoy telling you how it is, Sasuke! Mikoto-san is in a comatose-like state. Besides the injury she got in her chest, Itachi put her under a powerful genjutsu that's still in effect." Naruto replied with sadness in his voice and face.

"She's... Itachi put 'that' on her?" Sasuke was now scared.

"What is it? What did he do?"

"He... he put her under the most powerful genjutsu the Uchiha possess. It's called the Menmen Meiro. The Endless Maze. It puts the victims in a dream state where they wander in a labyrinth that has no exit and goes on forever, or changes as they go. It can also include small chambers with visions of their worst fears becoming 'reality'. It isn't often used as only the best of us can perform it and even then it's very taxing and drains a large amount of chakra. That's probably the reason Itachi let you off easily, he was weakened even if he didn't show it." Sasuke said, shedding tears of both anger and sorrow towards the end.

Naruto was speechless. The implications of what Sasuke said could mean that not only is Mikoto trapped in her own mind, she might also be suffering mental torture as they spoke.

"Is... is there a way to break it?" Naruto asked, now just as worried as Sasuke.

"I heard that there is supposed to be a way from an introduction lesson my family had on our family's kekkei genkai related jutsu. But I don't know anything about it except that it's a very complicated procedure and only the very best in the field of medicine will have a shot at breaking it. If they haven't at least begun the procedure now, then we don't have a doctor capable enough to do it. If they fail, the victims risk losing their minds forever."

Naruto looked away from Sasuke. There wasn't one here. Nobody had dared take on the daunting task of liberating Mikoto-san from her own mind.

'Liberating? Wait a minute! Yokai-sensei has some form of jutsu that liberates him from something. He might know a way to do it. I have to find him and talk to him about this.' Naruto thought to himself, his spirits lifted by the idea.

"Sasuke, I gotta go. I've got stuff I need to do." Naruto said to his friend, barely able to suppress his excitement.

"Yeah, ok." Sasuke replied, his mood still down.

"Cheer up, Sasuke. At least she's alive and has a chance to recover at some point once we get an elite doctor in the house." Naruto said cheerfully.

"But she's in emotional pain in her dream world, Naruto!" Sasuke almost shouted his frustration, angry to not be able to rescue his own mother.

"We don't know that's a fact, Sasuke."

"How could it not be? Itachi has already murdered our whole clan, it was even one of his goals, he admitted that himself, remember?"

"Yeah." Naruto said, rubbing his neck in thought. He then said what came to his mind. "But if he meant to kill her on the spot, why put her into this state? It's almost as if he wanted her to survive, and if that's the case, would he want her to survive just to spend the rest of her days in agony, trapped in her own mind?"

"Who knows, it's probably his sick idea of a joke. Or maybe it's something he did to attack me, through her."

Naruto wanted to say more but he couldn't. Besides, he wanted to find Yokai-sensei.

"Right... who knows? At any rate, there's hope for her yet, Sasuke. I'll see ya around." Naruto said with a comforting smile, hoping to give some hope to his friend. Sasuke's own mind was a jumble of thoughts. Hope for her? Possibly. Was she in pain? Probably. Will it take too long until they get a doctor who can help her? Absolutely, any length of time is too long.

'I have to become a powerful shinobi. Itachi must pay for his crimes and I will be the one to make him pay.' Sasuke thought darkly. 'Though I will search far and wide after someone to help mother, first.' He then thought sadly, yet determinedly.

Naruto ran all over Konoha trying to find his sensei. He usually is quite difficult to find for some reason. Then again, Naruto had no idea what sort of hangouts Yokai liked to frequent, not yet anyway. He did know of one place where someone might know where he was.

"To Ichiraku Ramen!" He exclaimed, startling people around him as he took off.

Arriving at the block where the ramen stand is located, he was met with a sight. A dark blue haired girl his age was peering out of a corner in front of him, looking in the direction of the ramen stand, which happened to be on the other side of Hinata from where Naruto was standing. He was confused why she would look at the stand and not go in it to enjoy the heavenly dishes inside.

Walking casually up to her, he decided to give his favorite stand some good PR.

"You know, the Ichiraku's are not only the best ramen makers in the nations, they're also the cheapest in the village." He said jovially.

The girl 'eep'ed and turned red as a radish at the two first words Naruto uttered. She slowly turned to him as he spoke, not meeting his eyes, all the while twiddling her index fingers.

"Um... I... He-hello, N-Naruto-kun." She said meekly.

"Hiya." Naruto greeted happily. "You kinda have me at a disadvantage here. You know who I am, but I don't think we've been introduced."

"W-well, I... I'm Hinata."

"Hinata, huh? 'Sunny Place'? That's a really pretty name."

'He likes my name? He thinks it's pretty? Oh, Kami! Please don't faint, Hinata. Please don't faint!' Hinata said to herself in her mind, a mix of joy and panic. Though she was saddened that he didn't remember her from their class. Yet, he had a point that they hadn't been introduced before, which she supposed was her fault for being such a coward.

"Hey, I know. There's a Hinata Hyuuga in class. Are you her? You do look like her a lot." Naruto said, rubbing his chin in thought.

Hinata wore slightly different clothes than she usually wears in class. Right now she wore a navy blue t-shirt and lavender colored gray pants matching her eye color along with some simple sandals. This as opposed to her rather thick, tan jacket and navy blue pants

'He remembers? Oh, I'm so happy I could just...' She thought, in pure bliss from his simple words.

"Yes. I... I'm her." She said, a bright smile on her face.

"Cool, I haven't met you in class yet. My days are usually very busy between class and my sensei's training. Oh, that reminds me. I'm heading to Ichirakus. Want to tag along for a bite? We could get to know each other that way."

At first Hinata thought it ironic that he believed it was because he was busy that they never talked, but before she could think any further, his offer took her by surprise, complete surprise.

'Is he asking me on a date? No, it's too soon, way too... ohhh.' Hinata stopped thinking due to fainting.

Naruto sensed that something was off about the way she swayed before starting to topple over. His reflexes allowed him to catch her before she hit the ground, thankfully.

"Huh? Hey, Hinata. Hinata, what's wrong?"

"Mmm... so warm... so good looking..." She mumbled in her sleep.

'Hmm, she must be hungry if she's even dreaming of food. Heh, she's probably dreaming of ramen since she was staring so longingly at the stand, something I can totally relate to.' He thought with a grin.

Deciding to help her rid herself of hunger, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the stand. Ayame turned to greet the entering customer.

"Hello, welcome to... Hey Naru... Huh, what's...?" Came the incomplete sentences of Ayame.

"Hiya, Ayame-neechan. Could you serve us some ramen. I know she's famished, and frankly so am I." Naruto greeted with his foxy grin.

"Uhh, sure thing, Naruto. But what's her story?" Ayame asked as Teuchi came out from the back.

"I found her looking at the stand, as if she didn't dare to come here for some reason but wanted to badly. Either she's afraid that you're too expensive, or her parents don't think ramen should be part of her diet. If that's the case I will give them a piece of my mind." He said spiritedly as he gently put Hinata on a stool closest to the wall so she could lean onto it.

"But why is she passed out?" Teuchi asked, while stirring the noodles.

"Because she's so hungry she fainted, why else? We were talking a little and I just suggested we go in here to eat something when she suddenly passed out. Get this, she was so hungry she started to talk about ramen in her sleep." Naruto laughed.

"Really? Did she happen to mention her favorite kind?" Ayame asked, though she didn't believe for a second it was ramen that prompted her departure from the land of consciousness. She smirked as her suspicions instead went to the grinning blonde seated in front of her.

"Naw, only that it was warm and good looking."

Ayame burst out laughing. For a skilled and smart boy, Naruto was truly dense sometimes. Some things don't change, though Ayame didn't mind Naruto this way, he was just too endearing like that.

"What's so funny?" Naruto chuckled.

"Oh, nothing. That more or less describes any ramen dish."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly." He replied with a big grin. "Speaking of ramen, just in case she has food discriminating parents, would you mind cooking her a vegetable or fish ramen, just to make it as healthy as possible?"

"Not a problem, Naruto, coming right up."

Just then, Hinata decided to wake up.

"Ummm... Wh... where am I?"

"Oh, so you're awake now?" Came Naruto's happy voice. "You passed out from hunger, Hinata. So I decided to buy you a bowl of ramen.

"You... you what?" Hinata asked, dumbfounded.

"Don't worry, Hinata. It's no problem, no one should go hungry, and no one should live a life without tasting ramen at least once.

Teuchi guffawed and Ayame giggled while Hinata blushed prettily. While the thought was very sweet, it was way off target.

"Th...thank you, N...Naruto-kun."

"My pleasure, Hinata." Naruto grinned before turning to the chefs. "By the way, guys. Do you have any idea where Yokai-sensei is?

"I think he's lounging in the Jounin's rec-room right now, he likes to spend time there quite a bit." Ayame replied.

"Aw, crud. I can't get in there without permission or supervision. I'll just have to ask jiji to get him for me."

"J... jiji? You... have a grandfather, N...Naruto-kun?"

"Sort of, yeah? Hokage-jiji has been kind of like my surrogate grandfather as long as I can remember."

'Unbelievable, he's close to Hokage-sama. And he can call him 'grandpa'?' Hinata thought, shocked.

"Ah, here's our ramen." Naruto said as he saw Ayame carry a bowl each for them. "Itadakimasu!" He exclaimed happily before he dug in with vigor into his ramen. Hinata on the other hand half-whispered her thanks for the food before eating her ramen with the etiquette one could expect from a noble family like the Hyuuga, well as much etiquette as you can muster with a dish like ramen.

"Thanks, guys. I gotta run and find sensei. Catch you all later! Nice meeting you, Hinata!" Naruto said and paid for both of them before running off shouting his goodbyes over his shoulder.

Hinata wasn't finished with her bowl yet, so she stayed till she was done. Her manners included always finishing what was on her plate, or in this case bowl. She tried to say goodbye back but all that came out was a quiet 'bye', which the already disappearing Naruto naturally didn't catch.

"So, passing out from hunger?" Ayame said, leaning on her folded arms, her eyebrows raised and a sly grin on her face.

"Erm... I was kinda hungry." She replied, embarrassed.

"Riiight, and Naruto isn't a natural blonde." She said with benign sarcasm.

Teuchi has been through enough girl-talk to already know what's gonna happen and wisely decided to not get interfere in any way and went into the back to do the dishes, since no other customers seemed to appear for now.

"You like him dontcha?" Ayame asked with a wry grin.

"N...Naruto-kun is a n...nice guy. So... Yes. How c... could I not?" She answered.

"You can't fool another girl when it comes to matters of love, Hinata-san." Ayame said, kindly but still sported that knowing grin of hers.

"B... but I..."

"It's written all over your face, and body for that matter, girl." She said, then sighed dramatically. "It's just too bad that Naruto's somewhat illiterate when it comes to these things."

"Somewhat?" Came the call from the back.

"Ok, so he's completely illiterate." Ayame cried back, then turned back to Hinata, a nice smile on her this time. "But that doesn't mean he can't learn."

"I... I guess I've been found out. Haven't I?" Hinata said weakly... looking down?

"Hey, what's the matter?" Ayame said, concerned.

"Please. Don't tell Naruto-kun that I like him." She said, without stuttering. Her eyes pleading with the elder girl.

"But why not?"

"I want to tell him. But I just... I... I can't bring myself to... to tell him that." She said, and added with a defeated tone. "I'm too shy."

Ayame smiled sympathetically at Hinata. "Aw, don't be sad, Hinata. You'll get the courage to do it someday. Just don't wait forever to do it, it isn't fair to yourself to keep yourself in suspense like that. Speaking of which, do you know why you're so shy?"

"I'm.. just afraid that he will... reject me. He's so strong... handsome... and confident and I'm... a coward and weak!" Hinata cried out, her eyes moistening. Not able to take it, she buried her face in her arms on the table and wept quietly.

"No. No, you're not weak. Who told you that?" Ayame said, gently rubbing the back of the heiress. "Hey, come on. Who said you were weak?"

"I can't... I can't tell you."

"Well, whoever told you that was full of horse shit."

Hinata's eyes shot up to gaze in shock at the ramen waitress. "Ayame-san!"

"Hahaha, you look hilarious when you're shocked, do you know that? But anyway, despite what you or who ever this person is who said that. I know one thing for certain."

"What is that?"

"That Naruto wont stand by and not help someone he knows needs it. You go to the academy with him, right?"

"Hai."

"Well, you need a sparring partner or just someone to study with in general? Well, he may not be book-smart, but he's not exactly a slouch in it either from what I've gathered. If I were to bet, you can help him with the books and he can help you with the skills. And with all that will grow confidence."

Hinata had to agree that seemed to be the best approach. It was as neutral and unassuming as she could get it right now. That way she didn't risk him suspecting her of liking him before she could muster up the courage to tell him. That is unless his denseness thins out as time passes.

'No, no more negative thoughts. This is my chance to learn more about him, to get closer to him. I wont allow myself to chicken out. I wont!' She shouted to herself in her mind.

She then looked at her new friend, Ayame, with grateful eyes. "Thank you, Ayame-san. You sound as if... you've been in a similar situation before."

"Well, no. Not exactly, but I've learned from others enough to get a gist of what's what and what to do about most stuff." She waved it off.

Hinata then stood up and bowed to the waitress. "Thank you again, I must go back to the compound now before I miss my daily family training. Ja ne!" Hinata said before walking out.

'She's already gained considerable confidence from my little pep-talk. She doesn't stutter as much.' Ayame thought, happy for her and Naruto's new friend.


	23. Hurdles and Growth

AN: Attention, heavy original jutsu training content ahead.

* * *

Chapter 22: Hurdles and Growth

Naruto ran through the village at full speed, intent on getting a hold of his sensei as quickly as possible, in order to hopefully help Mikoto from her distress as quickly as possible. On his way, he failed to notice the hostile looks and insidious whispers regarding him, partly due to being used to it and partly his rush didn't allow to actually see and hear clearly enough to notice anyway.

He finally arrived at the Hokage's office, bolting through the door before either the secretary or the guards on duty had time to fully react to his rapid approach.

"Jiji! I need your help!" Naruto all but shouted.

Startled from their paperwork, the clones of the Hokage almost made a complete mess of the papers in their hands before they recovered just as quickly and very soon had things in order again. The people Naruto ran past apologized profusely for allowing the brat to get past them this way. Sarutobi merely waved them off before addressing Naruto.

"Naruto, this had better be good, or I will have no choice but to discipline you about barging in here like that." One of the Hokages spoke. Naruto had no idea which was the real Hokage.

"It is, Jiji. I need to find Yokai-sensei, it's pretty much an emergency."

"Pretty much?" Another said, most likely a clone.

"Well, it's about Mikoto-san. I think maybe sensei could help her."

"How?" A third of the clones of the Third asked.

"You know that Sasuke's woken up, right?"

All Hiruzens nodded.

"Today, I told him about Mikoto-san being alive but is in a coma, under some sort of genjutsu."

"I'm not sure it was the right time to tell him, Naruto. But what's done is done, go on." The aged Hokage behind the desk said with a frown.

"Sasuke told me about this genjutsu, and from that, I think maybe Yokai-sensei could break it."

All the Sarutobis seemed to consider this for a minute before all of them at the same time called out.

"ANBU!"

An ANBU appeared in front of the desk, bowed on one knee.

"Yes, Lord... Hokages." He queried, a bit confused which one was the real one, much to the inner amusement of Naruto.

The one behind the desk spoke while dispelling his clones, which were finished anyway. "Fetch me Yokai-san, double time."

"At once, Hokage-sama." And the ANBU left.

"So, Naruto, what exactly makes you think Yokai-san might be able to help Mikoto-san?"

"Well, I was thinking of some way to help her when I remembered sensei using some sort of jutsu to release himself from a self-induced genjutsu to demonstrate something to me about genjutsu. I thought it could do something since it isn't exactly the normal sort of dispelling I've been shown lately by Kurenai-sensei."

"Spirit Style: Liberation?" The Hokage offered.

"Um... Yeah, that's it. That word made me remember it when I talked with Sasuke. How come you know it, Jiji?"

"I've seen it in action once by your sensei."

"Oh, Ok."

"Alright, Naruto. First off, your reason for barging in seems to be valid enough, but try not to do it again unless in an emergency. Second, I am unsure if it will work because the only time I saw it in action, the jutsu was performed to free Yokai-san from a seal, not a genjutsu. And perhaps it would work for some genjutsus, but that's only a guess. And thirdly, good job trying to find help for Mikoto-san, even if this turns out to be fruitless."

"Thanks, jiji. But this is an emergency still."

"How so?"

"The genjutsu puts Mikoto under a mental torture."

The Hokage's eyes widened in shocked understanding. "You mean to tell me she's suffering from genjutsu induced nightmares? There's nothing that indicates that level of suffering from any tests performed."

"I... can't say for sure. I can only tell you what Sasuke told me he knew of the jutsu. I can't exactly believe Itachi would attempt to kill her and at the same time put her in a mind-prison for life, it doesn't make sense."

The Hokage had come to the same conclusion earlier, Itachi hadn't meant to kill her, but this powerful genjutsu of his made the situation even more complicated and confusing.

"Jiji, how come we haven't got a medic or doctor skilled enough to deal with this sorta thing? We're supposed to have the best medical staff and all that in all the nations."

"We used to have it, well in a sense we still are the best medically speaking but we don't have 'the' very best medic in the village anymore."

"How come?"

"That's a long story we don't have time to delve into right now, Yokai-san is here now."

Just as the Hokage said, in came Yokai just as he finished telling Naruto.

"You rang?" Said Yokai dryly, but with a smirk.

"Very droll, Yokai-san." Sarutobi commented with narrowed eyes. "Naruto here wanted to see you. Naruto?"

"Hai, Jiji. Yokai-sensei, I need you to help Mikoto-san." Naruto said, and then proceeded to tell Yokai everything that's happened and his idea. Yokai rubbed his neck in thought after all was said.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but that wont work." Yokai said dejectedly.

"What? Why not?" Naruto shouted, disappointment and deep concern for Mikoto showing as clear as day.

"Because the jutsu you're thinking of is used against restriction seals and is only for the user, not another person, sadly. And any counter-genjutsu I know isn't sufficient for this task. I know that we have counter-genjutsu specialists among my people, but they haven't been located yet, we're that far spread."

"So locate them!" Naruto pleaded.

"Naruto, I know you're worried but it isn't as simple as going outside the village and shouting out 'Is there any counter-genjutsu specialists out there?'"

"But... Jiji, how about that medic you mentioned? Can't we try to find him?"

"Her, and I would like to but once again, it isn't as simple as that."

"Aarrgghh! Why not?" Naruto growled.

"Because she's one of the sannin, one of the Legendary Three ninjas that battled Hanzo of the Salamanders to a draw. Thus she can come and go as she pleases, and she's made it clear she wants nothing more to do with the Hidden Leaf. She hasn't betrayed us or officially left us, but she's using her traveling rights as a sannin to go about as she pleases. And she would need a damned good reason to return."

"Why doesn't she want to come back? Can't you order her to come back? You're the Hokage."

"That's not my place to tell, Naruto. And while I am the Hokage, the Sannin are basically Hokage's without the title. Not even I can order them unless they let themselves be ordered. Currently, I can barely have Jiraiya do some of that I ask of him. Bottom line here; we're stuck in regards to Mikoto-san's situation."

Naruto snarled and punched the wall in anger over Mikoto's misfortune and possible anguish. To Sarutobi's and Yokai's surprise, it left quite the dent.

"As soon as possible, Jiji, I want to get a mission to go after her and convince her to come back."

"Naruto, I told you, she would need a hell of a reason to return."

"Yeah, and Mikoto-san's life is at stake, Sasuke's mother's life." Naruto retorted.

"*Sigh* To all of us, that's a great reason, but I'm talking about in her eyes. That wont do as a reason."

"What is she? A cold hearted bitch?" Naruto exclaimed.

Reigning in his KI, which wanted to surface from that insult, Sarutobi answered.

"She has her reasons, Naruto. Reasons I can't find in my heart to go against."

Naruto wanted to protest, but felt a touch in his spirit. He knew what that meant, Kami wanted to talk to him, and he felt it was about this. He relented.

"Alright, Jiji." Naruto said, defeatedly. "Just promise me you'll do everything to ease her pain."

Caught off guard by the uncharacteristic change in Naruto, Sarutobi was about to ask what brought it on when he saw the knowing smile on Yokai and deduced that his training must have taught him patience, to an extent.

"That's a given, Naruto:" He said with a sad smile. "Now, if that is all I have to get back to work."

"Sure thing, Jiji. Though, weren't you done a while ago?"

"That was the paperwork part, I've still got a foreign Head Shinobi coming with an important message I need to look at and discuss with this shinobi. He or she should be here soon."

"Alright then, we'll take our leave now, Hokage-sama." Yokai said as he and Naruto went for the door. When they opened it, an unfamiliar man was about to knock. He was a shinobi by all accounts. Yokai noted that this shinobi had his headband in a style very similar to Kakashi Hatake, covering one of his eyes, only it was the opposite eye, his right. Yokai also noted that this shinobi was a foreign one because of the Kumo insignia on the headband.

'What is this disturbing feeling I get from this man? I've only just met him and already don't like him.' Yokai thought with a mental frown.

"Oh, pardon me, I almost 'knocked' you over." The man joked.

"Who're you?" Naruto asked.

"I'm the Head Shinobi from Kumo, here to see the Hokage."

"Ah, yes, come in." Came the voice of Sarutobi back inside the office.

When the office door closed, Naruto turned to Yokai and whispered. "Sensei, did you also get an uneasy feeling about that guy?"

"Yeah, I did. Can't really put a finger on why though, he seemed amiable enough." Yokai said.

"Wasn't it you who taught me that appearances can be deceiving, and is usually a constant in the shinobi world?"

"Which is why I find it so troubling." Yokai said with a frown.

"Should we tell Jiji?"

"And tell him what? We got a gut feeling he's a bad guy? No, we can't do anything and hope he can discover it on his own in time, if there's something wrong."

"I hope so. Jiji, is a smart and strong ninja though, I have no doubt he can deal with it." Naruto said confidently.

Yokai smiled at Naruto's confidence in his surrogate grandfather.

"Hey, Naruto, how about we go and train? I've got a new jutsu for you to work on."

"Oh? Awesome, sensei, what is it?"

"It's an... upgrade to a jutsu you already know. I figured it's time you started on learning it."

Later on the plateau on top of the Hokage monument.

"Alright, Naruto. You ready?"

"Hit me with it, sensei!" Naruto threw his fist into the air enthusiastically.

"Very well. You remember the jutsu you used to hide from the dean and then make that grand entrance in your class?"

"Yeah. 'Spirit Style: Spirit Stride'."

"Right, now tell me all the details about it you know."

Naruto frowned as he recollected the lessons he got regarding the jutsu. With his eyes still closed in concentration he recited;

"It is a jutsu for stealth and discretion using regular chakra. Since it is basically a very thin chakra veil, which hides/camouflages the user for a limited time before running out of juice, it's to be used intelligently and only when necessary. Depending on ones chakra control it could;

#1. Run out of chakra anywhere from a minute to ten minutes.

And #2. Determine how thick the veil will be, since the veil cannot be too thick or enemies or other undesirable individuals will either sense the chakra or the veil will be unstable and reveal you. While you can move with normal speeds, moving too fast, like with chakra enhanced speeds, will also distort the veil or remove it altogether, making you visible in both cases thought the first case is only partially visible or seemingly transparent.

Unfortunately, you cannot cast a new jutsu upon the old one because they will collide and cancel out each other with their combined thickness. It also takes a brief moment to cast the jutsu. Experts of this jutsu will intimately know when the jutsu is about to end and have the replacing jutsu cast at the precise moment the fading jutsu completely disappears.

'Spirit Stride' needs only one spirit hand sign and genin level regular chakra amount and genin level control. It dampens or completely hides any sounds and smells you make like footsteps or sweat. A side effect is that when you speak or make a loud enough sound, as it travels through the veil, becomes warped and wont be heard until the the sound has traveled a handful of meters, making it sound like it's coming from everywhere, which depending on the situation can be used for various reasons and desired effects like distractions or intimidation. It does not hide killing intent or air displacement caused by your own movements."

Yokai applauded. "Very good, Naruto. Good to hear you've taken the lesson to heart." Yokai said proudly. "But you forgot an important downside."

Naruto's face scrounged up into a mix of confusion and attempt at recollection. A moment later he said. "Oh yeah. The biggest downside is that you cannot use this jutsu for offensive purposes as the veil is too frail to maintain while doing anything that interacts with the world outside the veil and thus not viable for use during combat or item retrieval. It still is great for escape tactics though if a fight is too much."

"And 'that' is what we're going to remedy, starting today." Yokai declared.

"Really? Awesome!" Naruto shouted his excitement and whooped around like the kid that he is.

"Alright, Naruto, settle down." Yokai chuckled. "Now, can you guess the name of the jutsu I have in mind?"

"Umm... 'Spirit Style: Spirit Strike'?"

"Hah, that was actually not such a bad guess. But no. It's what I used to save you way back when we first met."

Naruto's eyes widened as he remembered the event and frowned as he tried to recollect the exact name of the jutsu his, back then, sensei-to-be uttered.

"I think it was... 'Ghost Style: Hunting Aunt'." He said, completely serious.

Yokai was completely unprepared for that answer and fell onto the ground, clutching his stomach as he laughed loud and hard, much to the chagrin of Naruto.

"Hey, it was a long time ago." Yokai only laughed harder. "And I was only six." No change.

After a minute of relentless laughter, and some grumbling and protests from Naruto, he managed to pull himself together, albeit still chuckling every now and then.

"Haha, no. It's, hehehe, 'Ghost Style: Haunting Hunt'."

"Oh, right. I knew that." Naruto said, pouting.

"*Ahem* Anyway," Yokai said, rubbing away a tear of mirth. "This jutsu requires spirit chakra, as opposed to regular chakra. It allows you to maintain a more stable version of the veil which, for all intents and purposes, acts as an invisibility bubble."

"A bubble?" Naruto asked, disbelief evident in his tone.

"Yeah, a tangible sphere usually made of soap and water." Yokai said, his face neutral.

"I KNOW what a BUBBLE is, _sensei_." Naruto said, comically angry.

"Of course you do. Anyway, this isn't your ordinary bubble."

"Gee, how did I know that part? But aren't bubbles usually very fragile, how will this bubble be any different from the veil of 'Spirit Stride'?"

"Ah, ordinary soap bubbles are indeed fragile and pops easily. However, there are other forms of bubbles or spheres that are tangible and bendable yet durable. While what we're gonna do aren't true bubbles, that's just for simplicity in your learning, there are similarities.

For one; the invisibility you gain has a larger radius around you, big enough for two people. This bubble is invisible and intangible for everyone but yourself. You might remember how I sometimes 'abducted' people from the mob that persecuted you back then? I use that invisibility to grab a hold of a person and disappear with him to another place where I either knock him/her out or kill them while leaving the body in a secluded place preventing it from being discovered.

As you probably have gathered, this is a jutsu which is great for infiltration, this way you can remove pesky guards or patrols and hide their unconscious or dead bodies from discovery while you continue your mission with lesser difficulty. It will also serve well with removing mission critical objects from the enemies' possession in secrecy.

Number two for similarities; you can reach out and grab people or objects through the surface and return to the relative safety within the bubble, the bubble is stable and durable enough to not 'pop' when you do.

With enough skill, you can even bend the surface of the bubble to allow you to remain hidden even when grabbing stuff, so the only thing visible will be the person or object you grab until it gets enveloped within the bubble along with you. I've even taken it a step further but that's for another time when you're good enough and if you feel it will be useful to you."

"What are the downsides, sensei?" Naruto asked, absorbing all the information like a sponge.

"Good question, Naruto. While it allows offensive capability, it has the following downsides.

#1. It has a limited area of operation. As far as area is concerned, if it is out in the open you basically have two bubbles, the one immediately around yourself which is at all times centered around you and a second, static and much larger bubble which is your effective area to work within. I'll get to sizes in a second.

If you're indoors then we think in terms of number of rooms. Meaning that the jutsu usually is restricted to a room for novices, to a handful of rooms or a medium sized area or larger/more rooms for more experienced and trained shinobi.

I myself can create an area roughly the size of half your stadium. The size of the bigger bubble's radius is dependent on the size and shape of the area you're in and the amount of chakra and chakra control the user is capable of. As a consolation, you're able to sense and see the border of your jutsus range, only you can see it. You can also sense when the jutsu is about to fade away.

With this in mind, try to use it in a strategic location where everything and/or everyone you intend to include in the field of effect will be inside, as well as paths to access them, before activating it. You wont be able to move the field unless you cancel it and put it up again. I will comment on this later.

#2. It has a limited time as well. However, since it is fueled by spirit chakra, which is much more potent, and at the same time not detectable by common means, it has a longer longevity than 'Spirit Stride'. I'd guess between five to twenty minutes for a novice like yourself when you get the hang of it, around twenty to forty minutes for experienced shinobi and finally forty minutes to a full hour for veterans.

It is pretty rare that the time limit runs out before the shinobi in question gets to finish the task he or she had to use the jutsu for. But if it does, the jutsu has but to be recast, the trouble is though that it takes a few moments for the jutsu to be able to be used again, giving a small window for the enemy to detect you.

Given the rather long time before the jutsu expires combined the many distractions around the shinobi, it is occasionally difficult to even remember the time limit, much less keep track of the time remaining. So there's a potential risk to be 'caught with your pants down' at a very compromising moment."

"I thought you said that you can sense when the jutsu is about to fade away? How can one be caught unprepared then?" Naruto asked.

"Once again you're very astute." Yokai said with great approval. "Yes, you can sense it, but the time between the moment you sense it to the actual jutsu dropping is very short, about 5 seconds. If you're not careful, you could be out in the open with no cover in sight. And since, like with 'Spirit Stride', you cannot apply a new jutsu over the old one, you need to wait until the jutsu fades or cancel it manually before reapplying it.

At the point you're out in the open, canceling it is not an option. You can't cancel the old jutsu and apply a new one at the same time, that is simply not doable, it's like trying to look left and right at the same time. If you're skilled enough you can apply the new jutsu in place of the old one seamlessly but that is a risk as if an enemy shinobi is a sensory type or highly attuned to their surroundings they might sense something is slightly off, causing suspicion.

Finally, #3. If you have to take out more than one enemy, like I had to do while rescuing you, you are at a disadvantage since you would need to restrict their movements and ability to alert nearby allies when they undoubtedly become aware of your presence once you start thinning their numbers. Luckily there is a jutsu I have for that but it's draining and complicated while at the same time being an excellent choice for maintaining the secrecy requirement missions that ninjas such as you and me will undertake. I'd say that you, for now, need to avoid detection and take out single targets this way until you're more proficient."

Naruto had been taking notes at a smoking fast rate (a trait shinobi learn early on to ease their learning load. Even the most experienced ninja and kunoichi have found it useful in their later years, as Jiraiya can attest to, (though for a very different reason)). When he finally was finished writing, he asked.

"Does the 'inner bubble' hide Killing Intent and will it prevent air displacement caused by me moving around?" Naruto asked.

"No on both accounts. Unless you wish for it, Killing Intent should be reigned in to minimize detection even while disposing of enemies. Also, while rapid movement is possible without risking the integrity of the bubble, it still can alert your enemies to your presence and even your general location if you're careless due to the air displacement."

"Right." Naruto replied, while writing it down. "So basically what you're saying is that, while 'Haunting Hunt' is an improved version of the 'Spirit Stride' it has downsides that the other doesn't and vice versa, making both still useful on their own for separate reasons?"

"Exactly. Kudos for noticing that, Naruto. 'Spirit Stride' has mobility and very little drain on regular chakra while 'Haunting Hunt' has offensive and interactive abilities but has limited range and drains on ones spirit chakra somewhat."

"Sensei, this seems like a pretty advanced and difficult jutsu, how come I get to learn it already? It seems to me that it requires lots of skill, control as well as sense and responsibility. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet." Naruto said with reluctance.

"What's this? I thought you were ready for anything, that you'd do whatever it takes. What ever happened to the Uzumaki Naruto that would challenge death and fate if he had to?" Yokai said with a challenging tone and a smirk.

Naruto stood up and pointed at Yokai. "Hey! I will do whatever it takes, but I also try to not get into things I'm not yet ready for unless absolutely necessary. I may have been impatient and impetuous once but I've learned since then. I dream to be Hokage, but I know I'm not ready for it, yet. Besides, a Hokage doesn't do things without thinking first, you taught me that, remember?" Naruto said with fire in his eyes.

Yokai grinned proudly. "And that's the exact reason why I know you are indeed ready in your heart to be trained in it. Control wise you still need to improve some, however. But that's what we're going to do. You still need to get my approval before using it in a mission at your discretion. The rule still stands that if I haven't given the go ahead but you deem it vital for your survival, your last resort, then your allowed to."

Naruto smiled happily. "Got it, thanks for your confidence in me, sensei." Naruto said sincerely. He then added, "That reminds me though, why can't I tell people about the jutsu I know?"

"You can't mainly because of your classmates. This in turn is for the immense risk that they would tell their buddies or parents, even if you asked them not to. Such are the minds of young boys and girls, secrets are meant to be revealed and rules to be broken.

When you and your classmates graduate, when you're all shinobi, you come under the laws that govern us, which means they are sworn to keep secrets, including yours. I've included everyone outside class, even shinobi, to make ensure you don't slip up on accident with different people you trust but whom are under different rules. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sensei. Although I trust my friends enough to learn and not tell, I wont tell them, I promise. Though I have to admit I look forward to when I can speak about it and show it without worry." Naruto said with a slightly frustrated look.

"I know, Naruto. Now, do you want to get going with the practical stuff?"

"You bet I do! It's my favorite part of the training, after all!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.

"Very well. Remember the different Spirit Hand Signs?"

"Yeah."

"You need to use a few hand signs since you're a novice, but with time and practice you will only need the one crucial sign."

"Right, so what are the signs?" (AN: Spirit Hand Signs will be explained in detail later)

"Weaver, Carpenter, Fisherman (shortened to Fisher from now on), Shepherd and finally the one-handed sign; Justice."

After writing the hand signs down, Naruto and Yokai spent the rest of the day practicing his chakra control and his skill with 'Haunting Hunt'. They worked at it until late into the evening.


	24. Stalking the Lightning

1st pair of * Naruto's Daily Life

2nd * It's the Training

3rd * Ground Control Soundtrack Track 8

4th * Splinter Cell [Soundtrack] Defense Ministry Exploration

5th * Splinter Cell 1 OST - Common Fight

Just search each track name exactly as they are written (or copy/paste) in Youtube and you should find them as the first hit.

* * *

Chapter 23: Stalking the Lightning

*The next morning, Naruto went to meet Sasuke at the hospital. He was going to be released and be free to return to his daily routine fully. Naruto wanted to be there for his best friend as he was about to rejoin society and the academy. No doubt some major adjustment in Sasuke's personal life was fast approaching now that his family was practically all but gone.

Normally the academy would have classes today since it was the start of a new week, but with the recent horrors of the Uchiha Massacre it was decided that one week of mourning and recovery for the entire village populace was decreed by the Sandaime. The only thing that was run largely like normal was the shinobi businesses. Security and missions cannot halt, not even for an event of this magnitude. The only exceptions were shinobi and kunoichi who were deeply affected by the events in one way or another, these were allowed the same time to recover.

Naruto had decided that for as long as Sasuke needed it, he was gonna be around to help him cope with his loss.

Naruto entered the reception area of the hospital and went to the clerk.

"Excuse me, miss. I was wondering when Sasuke Uchiha will be released?" Naruto asked politely.

The clerk, a woman in her mid-twenties, looked up to see Naruto with a kind smile. She returned it as she replied.

"Ah, Naruto-san. Welcome back. Uchiha-san is being prepared to leave as we speak, he should be here momentarily."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks, would you mind it if I waited around here?"

"Not at all, Naruto-san. Would you like a soda while you wait? There's a vending machine right there."

"Heh, I would. But I didn't think of bringing any coins, thanks anyway."

"Don't worry, it'll be on me." The clerk proclaimed happily.

"Huh? Oh no, thank you. It's not necessary, miss." Naruto said, politely dismissing the offer.

"I insist, Naruto-san. It's a small token of my appreciation." She said with a kind look.**

"Um... For what exactly? I don't remember doing anything for you." Naruto asked, confused by what she was referring to.

"You don't remember?" She asked incredulously. "You were here yesterday when this horde of girls stampeded in here and barraged me with questions and causing such a ruckus I was starting to panic. Then you came along and straightened them all out."

"Oh! I do remember that, I just didn't remember you specifically, I guess I didn't get a good look at you during the commotion."

"That's understandable, I guess." She said with a small laugh. "Though I must admit I admire your courage, Naruto-san."

"My courage?"

"Yes. I was young once as well and just about every generation have their own fan-girl group. I know all about that and how difficult it can be for men to dare say anything against a mob of irate girls." The clerk explained with sincerity.

"Er... I'm confused." Naruto said, scratching his head.

"What about? Surely you must have felt some fear in the face of those angry girls? Yet you stood up to them alone."

"No, not that."

"What then?" The clerk was confused herself now.

"I'm confused why you would say you were young once when you obviously still are." He said genuinely.

The clerk both blushed and sweat-dropped at his statement. He didn't brag about standing up to the girls. And if his way of saying that was anything to go by, he didn't intentionally flirt with her either.

"Oh, hehehe. Well, thank you. Perhaps I should have said 'younger' or 'at your age'." She clarified.

"Ah, ok." He said, internally wondering what she thanked him for. "And like I told those girls after they dragged me outside, I wont take unjust punishment when I weren't in the wrong."

"What happened?"

"I fought them."

"You did what?" The clerk exclaimed.

"Yeah, though I didn't hurt them. I don't want to hurt anyone, not anyone from this village anyway. I used disabling and knock-out moves, not harmful ones. They got the message, I think." Naruto reassured.

The clerk was about to comment further when Sasuke came out from the corridor leading from his room to the reception area.

"Yo, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto waved him over.

"Dobe." Sasuke greeted, a little smile on his face.

Naruto slung an arm around Sasuke's neck and gave a wide grin. "Glad to see you're able to remember how to walk."

"You idiot. I was here for only a few days." Sasuke said, slightly embarrassed by Naruto's exuberant behavior to his recovery. "It's not like I was bedridden for a year."

"I wasn't referring to your time here." Naruto grinned.

"What do you mean?"

"With the way you were sulking I thought you had reverted back to a widdle kwawling kwy-baby." Naruto mocked his best friend.

*Instantly Sasuke exploded and sent a violent punch at Naruto, who was already out of reach by the time it flew.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU ASSHOLE!" Sasuke roared as he gave chase.

The clerk was about to protest this noisy action when Naruto shouted at her.

"SORRY ABOUT THIS! I'LL LEAD THE TEME OUT BEFORE HE DISTURBS THE PATIENTS WITH HIS LANGUAGE! NICE MEETING YOOoouuuu...!" Naruto shouted and laughed as he ran outside with a raging Sasuke hot on his heels.

The clerk sat back down, a look of bewilderment on her face. The boy was an enigma. A minute ago he was a serious and considerate guy, the next he was a dense and oblivious kid, next smart and somewhat heroic, going by his modest retelling of yesterday's events, and finally he was like a clown when the Uchiha kid showed up.

But she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her as she thought of his last action. She easily deducted it was his way of getting the otherwise depressed boy to recover and get back to a semblance of normalcy quicker.**

Then she had trouble deciding whether he was brave or just lacking chivalry when she thought to his description of the fight. She decided both applied, with a giggle.

All in all, with deep regret, she concluded that her previous view and treatment of the boy during the times he had to be in the hospital were all wrong and the old as well as new rumors circulating about him were all untrue.

Outside, in the Leaf Village

After a brief but rather tiring chase, the boys eventually calmed down. Sasuke was still annoyed with Naruto but that didn't stop them from hanging out a bit before Sasuke had to return to his clan's compound.

"Oh, come on. Do you have to go back there?" Naruto asked out loud when he heard Sasuke say he needed to return home. He then caught himself, too late. He immediately cursed himself for slipping up like that about Sasuke's new, lonely situation.

Upon glancing at Sasuke, his fears turned out to be correct. The Uchiha was now brooding again with a clear tint of sorrow on his face.

"It's not like I have a choice, Naruto. I have to go there and sort some clan stuff out. The Sandaime made it clear when he and the investigation ninja came over after I woke up that I was essentially the new clan head of the Uchiha clan. As such I have to go home and sort stuff out and then speak more with the Hokage about what's next."

The way Sasuke told that worried Naruto. He was more or less droning his explanation, that wasn't a good sign.

"Are you sure you're up for that? And do you know what to do with even half the stuff?"

"No. And I don't know the first thing to do with any of the stuff."

"Then... how will..."

"Look, I appreciate you worrying, dobe. But I'll figure it out. I have to, and I have to do it alone. You can't help me with this, no matter how much you'd like to." Sasuke said, looking at Naruto with a stoic face that didn't reach his eyes, which held pain.

"Why not?" Naruto half-pleaded.

"Because it's clan business and you, being an outsider, aren't allowed in them." Sasuke said matter-of-factly.

"Woah, that's kinda harsh." Naruto commented, a tad hurt.

Sasuke sighed. "It's just the way it is, I thought you knew that. No offense, Naruto, but this is something in which your help is not needed nor wanted."

Naruto looked down, he knew Sasuke was right, if not a bit rude about it. He was about to let Sasuke get to it in peace and do some training to get his mind off things for a bit when Sasuke sighed and said further, stopping a stone's throw away from the compound.

"But like I said, I appreciate you worrying and wanting to help. Just not now and not with this. Anything else and your the first guy I turn to. Alright?"

"Alright, Sasuke." Naruto said, solemnly.

"See you around, dobe." Sasuke walked towards his home and gave a wave over his shoulder without looking back.

This wasn't exactly how Naruto hoped things would turn out. Then again, it wasn't nearly as bad as he had feared either. He supposed that Sasuke did indeed have to work out the clan things by himself, but he was very doubtful it was a good idea for Sasuke to be alone in the compound with so many happy memories mixed with a few short, but intensely horrifying ones.

Deciding to drop it for now, he went to the top of the Hokage plateau to train.

Working on his newest jutsu, he became more familiar with the workings of it. He estimated that he could make an area of about ten meters in diameter, or about a room, and hold it for about five minutes, just as his sensei had predicted he would.

He briefly pondered how handy this jutsu would have been had he fought Itachi, either in the compound or at the scroll room where he stumbled on that big scroll Itachi was after.

'Wait a second! I remember now, there was some sort of clone jutsu in it. Maybe I could work on that too if I remember the details well enough.'

Trying to recollect the details of the jutsu, he delved into his decent photographic memory to bring up the image of the instructions he burned into it.

Finally he recalled the details of the jutsu.

'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, or Shadow Clone Jutsu. This jutsu is the culmination of the development from the most basic clone jutsu. Whereas the basic clones are little more than apparitions or mirages, easily dispelled by a dispelling jutsu or touching them, shadow clones are physical, much more durable entities, not able to be dispelled by dispelling jutsus, but still rather easily vanquished by just about any decent punch or skin penetrating weapon at the very least. Created by chakra by adding a fourth dimension, mass, to the three previous dimensions of surface, light-manipulation and mobility.

To perform the jutsu, have the index and middle fingers of both your hands cross into a plus sign and focus your chakra so that it converts into mass and will it to enter the shape you create. Training Tip: It might help to incorporate the theory of a transformation jutsu into this jutsu as you are basically transforming your chakra into a solid copy of yourself.'

Having remembered parts of the overall instructions, Naruto was somehow able to piece together what was written as he mulled over the details. He was quite surprised, not to mention impressed, with his own ability to do so. He then recalled the final part of the jutsu details.

'This jutsu's use is for scouting and infiltration purposes as anything the clone experiences will be transferred to the original upon the cancellation of the clone or clones. Warning: Because you divide your chakra by half and distribute it evenly among any and all clones you make, this jutsu is strongly recommended to be used sparingly as to not endanger the user's health via chakra exhaustion. Also, if you are able to create a bunch of shadow clones take care as you dispel them as if you do it all at once or many in rapid succession, you risk overloading your brain with new memory input, possibly crippling or killing you in the process. Take also into account how long the clones have been active and how much each clone have possibly learned before doing so.'

Ok, now Naruto was actually starting to wonder just how well he could actually remember stuff. He didn't recall being this good at remembering anything he's actually only glanced at.

'How come I can remember this well? I know this isn't like me.'

"**Because I guided your memory, Naruto-kun."** Came the voice of Kami in Naruto's mind, the feeling of love and safety suddenly making itself known to Naruto.

"Kami-sama? You triggered the memory?" Naruto asked just a bit startled.

**"Yes, you learning this jutsu is vital."** Kami stated.

"Wow. Thanks, boss. How is it vital, though?"

"**That is not necessary for you to know, my son. Just know that it is important for you to have this jutsu in your arsenal."** Kami said with a clear kindness to His voice.

"If You say so." Naruto replied with a shrug, deciding that it is a good thing whether he knew the reason why or not.

"**Do you remember what happened yesterday, Naruto-kun?"**

Naruto scratched his head as he searched his memory for what Kami was referring to.

"Sorry, I don't remember what you're talking about."

**"You were vehemently arguing for the greatest medic nin to be returned to the village."** Kami supplied.

"And then I felt a tug of sorts. That was you, wasn't it?" Naruto recalled

"**Indeed. I wanted to tell you a few things regarding this situation."** Kami informed Naruto with a serious yet still gentle tone.

"I'm all ears, boss." Naruto said.

"**Firstly, you will not be able to reach the medic nin as things are right now. When the time is right, it will happen naturally."**

"What does that mean exactly?"

"**Patience, my son. It will come to pass when it should, and you do not need to know more than that."**

"Okay, what's the second thing." Naruto said, irritated that this telling without really telling anything was happening again.

"**Secondly, do not fret for Mikoto-chan's sake. Put your trust in me to take care of her."**

At hearing Mikoto's name, Naruto instantly lit up with hope. "Hey, Kami-sama. You're, like, all-powerful. Can't you just lift the genjutsu off her right now?"

"**It is within my power, but if I did, things would not progress favorably for neither Sasuke-kun nor you."**

"How is Mikoto-san not waking up from her painful dream and be with her son and Sasuke with his mother more favorable than if she did?" Naruto asked angrily and incredulously.

"**Mikoto-san has not yet gone through with the purpose of her situation. I ask you to trust in Me and to trust that what I am doing is for the best for everyone. I do not like it either, my son. But it has to be for now."** Kami said gently and with an accompanying feeling of compassion and understanding to underline that what He said was true.

"I... why..." Naruto tried to argue but found he just couldn't. With a deep sigh in great frustration and feeling of helplessness, he sunk down to sit on the ground, holding his head in sorrow.

A feeling of comfort came to him and he felt a little of his anxiousness fade, enough to be able to think straight.

"I really don't get You or what You're trying to do, Kami-sama. You're putting me in a very tight spot, to say the least, with very little to do but trusting You. I don't know if You know how things work down here, through our point of view, but that's very demanding if You ask me. And what of their sufferings? How long will they have to endure this for your 'great plan' to work?" Naruto said, bitterly.

Despite feeling comforted somewhat and appreciating the soothing presence of Kami, Naruto didn't forget why he felt the way he did, and being the honest guy he is, Naruto bared his thoughts on the matter to The infinitely powerful deity. If Naruto was any calmer, he might have caught himself and become terrified because of his blatant disrespect. But he was too upset to think of that.

However, Kami's presence did not shift or change in any way, nor did his gentle tone when he replied.

"**I know, my son. I know that you feel angry at what is happening, angry at Me for allowing it and angry that you are put in the middle without any apparent way to solve the problems. But I am not doing anything without anything less than a perfect reason, remember that."**

"Yeah? Well, tell me why you're telling me stuff all the time without actually letting me have something concrete to go on and then ask me to trust you? You don't seem to trust me with anything, so why tell me anything at all? It doesn't make sense!" Naruto pressed.

Naruto then felt Kami's presence change a little. While still caring and overall pleasant, it now had a tinge of sadness in it.

"**But I do trust you, Naruto-kun. More than you have been able to see."**

"You do?" Naruto asked with genuine confusion. "Then what's with all the hush-hush?"

"**All that I have told you so far are things I only reveal to my most trusted sons and most dependable agents."**

"... Really?" Naruto asked, astounded by the revelation. "I'm your... agent? And... I'm that dependable?"

"**Why would I have given you your tasks if you were not, my son?"** Kami replied with a smile that, while not seen, somehow could be felt.

"I... wow..." Naruto uttered. He felt very honored by that.

"**But just like a good general has faith in his samurai, or a loving father his son, so do I have faith in you."**

Naruto became wide eyed. "You... have 'faith'... in me?" He said in disbelief.

"**I do, Naruto-kun."**

"Why?" Naruto asked, in a whisper. "Aren't we supposed to be the ones having faith in you, the one without faults?"

"**Faith is not a word used only in a worshiping sense, my son. You most of all should know this, as the Sandaime has faith in you and so does your sensei. You have faith in your sensei to teach you techniques and protect you and faith in your Hokage to make the best decisions."**

"And just why do you have faith in 'me'?" Naruto asked, sceptically. Not of Kami, but of himself.

"**I have faith in you for many reasons. For relevance; I have faith that you will to not only perform your tasks, but will not reveal anything you have learned to anyone until I command you otherwise, as anything revealed prematurely would damage my plans. Besides that, knowing those things I have told you will give you advantages you do not yet know of, but will in time."**

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess you're right." Naruto said thoughtfully.

"**You guess?"** Kami asked.

"Okay, so 'of course' you're right." Naruto said half-grumpily. Then he realized that "You just made a sarcastic comment?"

"**Oh? And what of it"** Kami said with mirth.

"I had no idea you had it in you!" Naruto nearly shouted and laughed. "You're pretty awesome for being Kami."

Naruto suddenly felt something he couldn't quite place, other than it was a sense of amusement.

"**I am certain that being Kami makes me awesome by default."** Kami said matter-of-factly.

"There! You did it again. Hahaha!" Naruto laughed. "You know, you're not what I expected."

"**Is that so? How did you expect me to be?"**

"I dunno. I guess I thought you'd be high-and-mighty, cold and demanding... Out of reach... Non-connectable. No offense but I've met people that were quite powerful in one way or another and they were all arrogant assholes, pardon the expression." Naruto admitted with regret.

"**Those people were human, Naruto-kun. And since I created everything and everyone and am the one behind all their positive personality traits, humor included, why would I not be capable of the same things?"** Kami said, His mood unaffected by Naruto's confession.

"Yeah, I suppose I didn't take that into account. You've proven me wrong except for one thing."

"**That being?"**

"You can still be demanding like any daimyo or kage." Naruto pouted, but then grinned as he finished. "But that is part of the role of a leader, isn't it?" Then he turned serious. "But being the leader also forces you to make hard choices, Yokai-sensei told me that long ago." Naruto commented lowly in recollection.

"Let me guess, those decisions you've made regarding Sasuke and Mikoto-san were tough to make, right?" Naruto asked seriously.

"**I always do what is necessary to make certain the greater good is achieved. Though many are the things I have done or ordered which have pained my heart immensely to do in order for it to be accomplished. And that's including every other world."** Kami said with a gentle voice. But surprising Naruto was the presence of a pained undertone.

*"Yeah..." Naruto felt sympathetic for Kami. He hadn't ever thought how He had it with trying to make sure everything turns out for the best everywhere, all the time, for as many as possible. That sure made his own dream feel rather insignificant in comparison.

As he thought those things, he felt Kami's presence shift again to a happy one.

"**What is on your mind, my son?"**

"I just feel... sympathetic for your situation, I guess. And I also realized how meaningless my dream is compared to what you're actually doing." Naruto said, humbled by the magnitude of Kami's position.

Suddenly Naruto was swept up in what seemed like a whirlwind. But it was rotating very slowly, yet it seemed to still carry him softly in the middle of the rotation. Then, suddenly, Naruto could see the whirlwind assuming beautiful colors. Finally, Naruto could feel an immense elation and overwhelming sense of fatherly pride enveloping him. He didn't know how he knew it was that kind of pride, but he knew.

"**Never consider your dream meaningless, Naruto. For it is a dream mirroring my own. You are a man after My own heart, able to feel genuine compassion and strong empathy for anyone who is in need of it, even if they have wronged you greatly. You always put others before yourself. You have the fierce strength to endure great pain and still offer kindness and lend strength to others. You strive to keep any and all promises you make to all you give them to."**

Naruto was too overwhelmed with all that was happening to him to be able to even think of a response to Kami's compliments.

"**You have my favor, Naruto. I shall now make my own promise to you."**

This was too much! Naruto couldn't believe what was happening. Kami Himself was going to make a promise to him?

"**Any endeavor you undertake in the name of justice, love and protection of the innocent and your loved ones, I shall lend you strength. Any foe you need help facing, I shall give you courage. Any complication you come across, I shall provide the wisdom to combat it. Any pain you have to endure, I shall be there with you. "**

That promise was very comforting to hear for Naruto, who smiled and looked up to the sky with grateful, moistened eyes.

"**And as you grow as a man, so shall our bond. As your heart exudes your love and loyalty to your precious people, so shall it be returned to you in time. You are now empowered to prosper."**

As Kami finished his promise, the whirlwind gently faded and revealed Naruto standing on the ground as if he had never moved. The feeling of happiness didn't leave him, however. But he knew it wasn't just Kami's feeling this time, it was his own as well.**

"Thank you, Kami-sama." Naruto said, as he bowed all the way to the ground.

"**Do I have your trust now, Naruto-kun?"** Kami asked, happily.

"You betcha, pops." Naruto answered with a huge grin as he stood upright once again.

Naruto felt what must have been the equivalent of Kami raising an amused eyebrow.

"**Pops?"**

"Yeah, you did say you wanted a family. So do I. Well, count me in." Naruto grinned his foxy smile.

"**You have a unique way of addressing me in a familiar manner."** Kami commented.

"Get used to it, pops. It comes with the territory, or didn't you know that?" Naruto said cheekily.

"**You are correct... sonny."** Kami agreed with a slightly cheeky undertone.

"Hey, whaddya know? He's learning the talk." Naruto teased.

"**I cannot learn because I already know all there is to know about anything, everything and everyone."** Kami replied, unfazed.

"So you're saying you're a know-it-all." Naruto quipped.

"**Indeed."** Kami replied matter-of-factly.

"That was sarcasm." Naruto dead-panned.

"**It does not contradict the truth of the matter."** Kami said in a factual manner once again.

"Hey! Being a know-it-all is frowned upon around here!" Naruto exclaimed.

"**Unless you are Kami, which I am."** Kami said, jovially.

"Well, flaunting your vast knowledge around is bound to cause some trouble in spite of that." Naruto countered.

"**Then it is a good thing I know how to 'talk the talk', should I ever need to speak to others around here."** Kami jovially answered.

"Tha... It... You... Gah!" Naruto had to concede defeat as he had finally run out of arguments.

"**There is one more thing I have to tell you before I let you go."** Kami said after Naruto regained his composure.

"Fire away, Old Man." Naruto said.

Briefly feeling another amused sensation, Naruto then heard Kami speak. **"I want you to practice your new jutsu as well as your recently improved jutsu until the sun just touches the horizon. After that, I want you to rest until the sun cannot be seen and make your way home."**

"Uh... Yessir! But how come you are micromanaging me today when other times I do it myself or under Yokai-sensei's guidance?"

"**You are very inquisitive, sonny. It will serve you well later. As for your question; There is a time for questions, a time for answers. A time for rest, and for training. A time for discretion... and a time for battle."** Kami said, the last part with a serious tone. Naruto then felt Kami's presence decline until all that seemed to remain was just Naruto.

Naruto shrugged and did as Kami had told him and practiced and perfected his Shadow Clone jutsu. Just in time for the sun to touch the distant mountains. He was quite exhausted by that time and promptly fell down on his back and rested.

After about an hour, he rose again and made his way home, with a brief stop at Ichiraku's in mind.

On the way, Naruto noticed something odd. In the distance, a ninja was crossing the street. But he did so in a stealthy fashion, as if he was trying to avoid detection. Naruto happened to be in a concealing shadow, masking his presence, and the shinobi had very briefly passed by a dull light, but it was enough for Naruto to notice.

Curious, Naruto decided to stalk the ninja. He knew taking to the rooftops will most likely alert the ninja to his presence, so he simply followed in the same manner as the suspicious nin. Using all that Yokai had taught him regarding sneaking and masking your sound and signatures, Naruto managed to remain unnoticed by his quarry.

*After a while, Naruto saw the ninja sneak past a couple of guards guarding a front gate and enter a large compound as silently as a mouse. Naruto mimicked his movements and followed him inside. Naruto noticed it was the Hyuuga estate as he did so.

'What's he doing breaking in here?' Naruto wondered as he silently tracked the perpetrator.

He noticed suddenly that they were walking on wooden floorboards. He recalled that these were one of the most treacherous surfaces to walk on as they sometimes emit creaking sounds. Naruto mused that since they weren't, they must be of quality wood and well tended to. Naruto silently sighed in relief, that meant he wasn't going to be detected by his target. But this was a double-edged sword as the ninja burglar, or whatever he was, wasn't going to draw attention to himself either.

Naruto pondered if he should alert the Hyuugas to the intrusion, but he didn't know if this nin was on a mission from the Hokage for some reason.

'Maybe the Hyuugas are suspected of being traitorous too?' Naruto mused. ' Or,' Naruto shuddered, 'is this guy doing something similar to the massacre?' Naruto didn't think such a thing was going to happen, at least certainly not so soon after the first one, at least that was his hope. Regardless, Naruto was hesitant to do anything.

In the end, he set himself to simply follow and observe until he could decide. Maybe when the nin does something Naruto could determine the next move.

He didn't have to wait long as the nin stopped by a door. Up until that point he had carefully peered inside various doors but moved on after a quick glance inside. Whatever he was looking for, he hadn't found it, until now. He gently slid the door to the side (these were classic paper-style sliding door used in Japan and other Asian countries). After a look inside, he entered quietly, the nin's eyes set upon his target. Naruto sneaked to the doorway and peered inside.

What he saw brought chills down his spine.

The nin was gagging a person with something. Apparently some sort of cloth drenched with a knock-out substance was used since the person relaxed quickly, rendered unconscious by the cloth. This person didn't seem like he or she had grown up yet as the body was still rather small, around his own size Naruto subconsciously estimated. The nin started to tie his victim.

The obviously hostile action was the thing Naruto needed to come to a decision. Now Naruto had no doubts that this nin was up to no good and knew he had to be stopped. The question was how, though. Naruto knew that this nin was at the very least a Chuunin in rank and he, himself, wasn't even a Genin.

'Then again, Itachi was a Jounin. No, he was even an ANBU captain and I could keep up with him.' Naruto tried to pep-talk himself. But he knew deep down that Itachi went easy on him because he underestimated him, when he got serious was when Naruto really knew the differences between them in skill.

'So what do I do here?' Naruto though desperately. He knew he was running out of time and options.

The nin was almost finished tying his victim, who was still obscured because of the nin's body being in the way.

'Alright, keep it cool, Naruto. What are the obvious things you have to do?' He asked himself in his mind. 'I have to stop the kidnapping, for sure, no matter how strong this guy is.' He asserted. 'I also have to get help. But how can I do both at the same time without losing track of this guy?'**

The nin then picked up the body and went for the window, opened it and was about to jump out when he heard a shout behind him.

*"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Put her back right now!" Naruto shouted his demand, he now saw who the nin tried to abduct. It was Hinata.

The intruder turned briefly to face the ruiner of his, till that point, flawless mission.

Naruto was appalled, the kidnapper was the same guy he and his sensei bumped into. The guy from Kumo.

"Dammit." The shinobi cursed quietly. "Caught by a mere brat. I must have been too slack in my stealth exercises." He then high-tailed it through the opened window, not giving Naruto a second thought.

"Get back here!" Naruto shouted as he pursued the enemy.

"Damn brat." He cursed as he tried to get away while also attempting to not be careless and run into trouble as he fled.

Meanwhile, Naruto was in a bind of his own. When the abductor was about to take-off with his victim, Naruto was still trying to decide how to stop him. But when he saw that it was Hinata who was going to be kidnapped, he just lost his cool and half-decided to just surprise the enemy, hoping to intimidate him to let go of her and flee.

'Guess that was too much to hope for.' Naruto thought. 'Now what do I do.' He pondered further, gritting his teeth while running and jumping to keep up with his friend's kidnapper.

'Pops-sama! Help me out here! What should I do?' Naruto asked in his mind. No answer came.

'Come on! Why don't you answer me?' Naruto almost shouted out loud when he threw the question in his mind.

"**There's a time for everything, Naruto-kun."** Came Kami's voice, calmly stating what He said just a few hours ago.

'Are you kidding me? Well, now is NOT the time for talking in riddles!' Was Naruto's response to Kami's words. But then he almost stumbled and fell haphazardly as he caught himself. 'Riddles? Riddles have answers. Pops wouldn't say a riddle in a serious situation like this unless the riddle's answer was relevant. But what is it?'

The pursued shinobi had to admit that little kid was a persistent pest. But it wouldn't matter for much longer, he was almost out of the village and this stupid kid didn't seem to have the presence of mind to call for help, opting to instead chase him in hopes of maybe fighting him to save the girl.

'Well, maybe when I am clear of the village I will indulge him if he's still after me at that point.' He thought darkly with a smirk.

Naruto frantically searched his memory as he pursued his target. 'There's a time for everything. A time for everything. Time... Time... Time... I don't have time for this! Wait! Pops said something like this earlier. There's a time for questions, a time for answers, a time for rest and time for training, time for discretion and a time for battle. Time for training... THAT'S IT!' Naruto went wide eyed in realization.**


	25. Preserving the Sunny Place

*Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter Get to the Embassy**

*Republic Commando RV Alpha**

* * *

Chapter 24: Preserving the Sunny Place

*The cloud nin glanced over his shoulder to estimate how far behind the brat was. To his surprise, he was no longer behind him. This slightly worried the nin.

'Did he give up and decided to fetch help? No matter, I will be out of the village soon and by day break in two days I will be out of Fire Country. Last year's constant conditioning in fast traveling with heavy backpacks to prepare my body for the strain are about to pay off.' He mused as he concentrated on his trek back to the Hidden Cloud village.

He also noticed that his captive was coming to. But it concerned him none as she was bound and gagged, so she was unable to help herself out of her predicament. A small while later, the Cloud shinobi was outside the walls of Konoha and started running and jumping on the treetops for all he was worth. 'Home free!' he thought with a smug smirk in victory. Hinata was silently shedding tears of despair and defeat. She mentally said her farewell to her loved ones.

'I'm sorry, mother, father. I'm sorry I couldn't be the strong daughter and heir you wanted me to be. I'm sorry Hanabi, my little sister for not being the elder sister you could have looked up to. But most of all; I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun. I'll never be able to tell you how much I admire you and how much you inspire me. I will never be able to tell you... that I...'

Suddenly the kidnapper was tackled in mid air and plummeted towards the ground which was approaching rapidly. If Hinata could scream, she would have. Instead a muffled one was heard as she descended parallel to her abductor.

Then, before she could touch the ground, she was caught by someone who in the next instant hid her in some bushes.

"_Are __you __alright,__ Hinata?__"_ Came the hushed voice of Naruto, much to Hinata's surprise and relief.

She gave a nod in the affirmative, her relief and gratefulness shining brightly in her eyes. Smiling in relief, Naruto whispered to her to stay put and to not make any sound and mask her chakra signature if she could. Hinata nodded again as he silently made his way to the small clearing the intruder had landed, safely on his own two feet.

"Who the hell just tackled me? Show yourself!" The irate nin demanded.

No reply came. The semi-masked man then tried to find his captive, but couldn't find her anywhere in the area. Cursing his bad luck, he tried to locate her chakra signature while still keeping vigilant for the soon-to-be-dead idiot who dared interfere.**

'Nothing? Dammit! She was conscious when I was tackled, she must be masking her signature if she is somewhere I can't find her right away. She wouldn't be able to mask it if she was unconscious from the fall.' He thought as he produced a kunai from his weapon pouch and began scanning his surroundings for the offending individual.

'No hostiles approaching yet, good. That gives me a little room to recover from this mishap.' He concluded. 'Still, I don't sense the attacker's signature. That means trouble.'

"I wont ask again! Show yourself before I come after you." He challenged.

*"That's rich considering you can't find me in the first place." Came a warped voice from everywhere around the nin. He tensed up and frantically looked around him. There was nothing.

A kunai suddenly swished through the air and embedded itself in the ground a few inches in front of the nin, startling him. He couldn't tell where it came from. It was as if it appeared out of thin air. Another kunai did the same thing, only it came from the right, making him face that direction out of reflex.

"So you're doing intimidation tactics, huh? You must be a mere genin if you seriously think this would give me pause." He said confidently. In truth he wasn't afraid, but he was nervous as he was pressed for time and an unseen enemy is always dangerous.

Silence was the loud reply. More kunai coupled with a pair of shuriken came from his behind now, he noticed they were getting closer and closer to hitting his feet each time. After he turned to face the direction of the new set of kunai, a noise was heard from his left. It sounded like someone exhaling loudly and slowly. Then a swooshing sound to his right. And to top it all off, an owl was hooting above him somewhere.

The nin had to admit, he was starting to sweat a bit. He had yet to actually see or even sense the attacker. There wasn't even any killing intent leaking out, which unnerved him more than any amount he expected to be feeling. But he then remembered a lesson he learned about detecting an unseen opponent. Lucky for him, they happened to stand on grass, and grass always bends under footsteps.

Peering into the darkened forest floor, in the direction kunais had yet to come from, he readied himself for a fight as soon as he saw the tell tale signs of footsteps.

And then he saw what he was looking for and promptly threw a kunai where he estimated his foe would be. The kunai, however, simply vanished when it came to where he thought the enemy was. The impressions on the ground remained though and he threw two more kunai in an attempt to harm his target.

The impressions vanished and the kunai sailed through the air normally and hit a tree far behind where his target was suspected to be.

"Give up now, or the next set will not miss." Said that eerily warped voice.

"Sorry, I can't do that, little ghost." The Cloud ninja replied with a confident smirk, though he was sweating a bit.

"A ghost, am I?" Asked the voice. "I am no ghost." He said further.

"Yeah, I figured as much." The nin sarcastically said. His smug looks were abruptly changed to that of pain as a kunai and a shuriken had embedded themselves into his back.

"_I...__stalk__ ghosts.__"_ He finished, even more eerily than before.

The pain along with the stress of his mission and the risk of getting caught by pursuing shinobi further mixed with the now certain threat to his well-being caused the nin to falter and look all around him rapidly as his breathing picked up a bit. And the fact the previously scorned intimidation tactics were starting to get to him wasn't helping either.

Another shuriken went into his right arm, above the elbow. Then a shuriken landed in his left leg. The pressure steadily was becoming too much for the assaulted Cloud shinobi. Finally, he backed up towards a tree as he tried to eliminate the risk of attacks from the rear.

Nothing was in front of him, save the already thrown weapons stuck into the ground where he once was at. He started hyperventilating and gave in to his stress and yelled out.

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

A few seconds passed without a sound.

"_Here.__"_ Came a whispering voice from behind the frightened man.

Turning around in fright to face his opponent, the nin suffered a blow to the head before laying eyes on him. Stunned, he recovered quickly to start fighting his enemy, when he found no one there.

The nin started to consider to retreat and abandon the mission, as he ran the risk of losing the fight, not to mention he started to feel the approaching signatures of pursuit only a mile or so from them.

As he considered this, he was taking a few shaky steps backwards. The next instant he found his foot ensnared by something and being dragged along the forest floor into the darkness of the forest, screaming and clawing the grass in fear.**

Hinata was still bound and gagged so she could not see anything of what was happening from her spot in the bush. The drug the shinobi used seemed to hamper her ability to use her bloodline limit, but she could feel it returning to her, soon she would be completely back to normal. For now, she heard just fine what was being said and could deduce a fairly accurate picture of what was going on as the various sounds reached her ears. In truth, she began to feel intimidated herself when Naruto was making those eery sounds and using that everywhere voice. It sounded very different from the happy version he did on their class' first day of the academy.

She reminded herself that the threat was directed entirely at the kidnapper, not her. But it certainly made its impression in any case.

'Naruto-kun, you are already stronger than I thought, but you are scary too.' She thought with a shudder. Whether it was from a slight fright or something else, she could not tell.

Then she heard her kidnapper scream in terror as his voice drew away from her. Then his screaming ended abruptly, without any sound to indicate the cause, and once more there was silence in the dark forest.

After a minute or so, she heard footsteps approaching her location. Expecting it to be Naruto, she looked in the direction it came from and tried to say something despite the gag in her mouth. To her surprise, the face that came after the hands that pushed aside the bush's leaves belonged to none other than her father, Hiashi Hyuuga.

"Hinata. My daughter, are you alright?" He asked, his voice controlled as ever, but his face was showing mild concern, which in Hyuuga terms was quite a bit of it.

"Mmhmm." Hinata mumbled and nodded as her face showed great happiness at seeing her father again.

"I'm glad." He simply said and showed a genuine smile at that, one Hinata would cherish the rest of her life.

Hiashi had soon freed Hinata from her bonds and gag.

"Where's Naruto-k..." She started to feign a cough to mask her mistake when she caught herself almost calling Naruto with the familiar suffix.

"I am not certain, I came right here as soon as I heard what happened and where you were headed."

"Father, he saved my life." Hinata began and was about to continue to ask they look for him when Hiashi beat her to it.

"How did you know? He alerted me to your kidnapping." Hiashi asked, both his eyebrows raised.

"What? But he was the one who intercepted that man and fought him." Hinata told in confusion.

"How can that be?" Hiashi asked, now truly bewildered. "That would mean he was in two places at once. Are you certain it was him?"

"Yes, father. Please, we must look for him." Hinata pleaded.

'Well, someone fought that man I saw hanging in that tree on my way here with the Byakugan.' Hiashi mused as he nodded and activated his bloodline skill. "Byakugan." He spoke the name of the jutsu and his eyes changed. There were some protrusions around his eyes that looked like blood vessels but were in fact chakra pathways that were swelled up to accommodate the eyes' special ability. His vision became all white and dark, dark grey and any shade in between and could see for miles.

Scanning the area between themselves and the area where the infiltrator was hanging by a rope from a tree, he could find no trace of Naruto.

"I cannot seem to locate him, daughter. It is as if... wait." He paused when his vision caught sight of an anomaly by the tree's roots. A slight, strange and very brief shimmer appeared and suddenly, there was Naruto, unconscious by the tree, a light-greyish spot was located on his torso, indicating that it was blood.

"Oh no, father he's hurt!" Hinata exclaimed in worry as she had seen the same thing with her byakugan, which had now been restored.

Wasting no time, Hinata darted to where Naruto was, Hiashi following close behind.

'Naruto-kun, hang on!' Hinata thought, besides herself with worry.

'Hinata seems rather concerned for the boy.' Hiashi noted as he ran beside his daughter. He then mentally shrugged and chalked it up to him rescuing her. Which reminded him he had to thank the boy himself for this, however he did it.

It didn't take more than ten seconds to find him. Naruto was unconscious, sitting besides the tree that also carried the Kumo nin by his feet with the rope that also dragged him to this place. Naruto's chest was dark red, meaning he was seriously injured.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted in alarm as she and Hiashi rushed to him. Hiashi, being more experienced, activated his Byakugan once again and examined his wound closely.

'Hmm. His wound is serious, it didn't puncture a lung but the weapon did nick his heart at the front. He possibly caught the Kunai in time to prevent it from completely penetrating it. Quite impressive for your age, Naruto-san. But how did you manage to still beat this man with a wound such as this? But none of it will matter if he isn't treated correctly soon or his heart may suffer an attack from the injury, not to mention the fact he's lost enough blood to lose consciousness makes the odds stack against him.' Hiashi mused.

"F-f-father, how... b-b-bad is it?" Hinata said with a shaky voice, her stuttering worse than normal.

"I am no medical ninja, my daughter." Hiashi stated neutrally. "But I assume he has a fair chance of making it through this if we get him back to the hospital soon. But first, I will execute this fool." He said as he rose and strode towards the enemy nin.

Before Hiashi could strike in a vital spot, a shuriken came flying and cut the rope, making the shinobi collapse to the ground rather painfully, if he wasn't unconscious already he would have been from that.

Hiashi looked towards the source and found, to his amazement, Naruto with his arm still extended in the throwing pose and Hinata with a shocked look on her face.

"Don't... Hyuuga-san." Naruto half-whispered between strained breaths.

Hiashi regained his composure and fixed Naruto with a neutral look once again. "And why not, Uzumaki-san? He had the audacity to try and kidnap my daughter right under our noses and you expect me to show mercy?" He asked with an even tone, though Hinata could tell the angry vibe to it.

"Because... his fate... isn't up to... you. The Hokage... is the one... to make that... decision for himself." Naruto said.

"The Hokage will surely execute him in due time anyway for espionage."

"Maybe... but you should... know that he... might have other... things to think about."

"N-Naruto-kun, you mustn't t-talk or move, you will m-make your injury w-worse." Hinata said, surprisingly fluent for this situation.

"No... I have to... say this..." Naruto said taking a moment to collect himself. "He is some... big-shot ninja diplomat... from Kumo. Killing him... might be a... bad idea."

Hiashi then considered Naruto's words. If the ninja was just some infiltrator it wouldn't have been much of an issue, but diplomats have the added complication of having some immunity. Hiashi wasn't aware of the Hokage meeting a diplomat so he didn't know of the man's status. Hiashi felt like shuddering at the thought of the ramifications had he gone through with the kill.

"It is good that you informed me, Uzumaki-san. You just averted an incident of international proportions."

"I wasn't... gonna let him... abduct Hinata... not when I... am around... to stop it." Naruto said with dimmed determination. Hinata blushed and smiled.

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know my daughter."

Hinata felt worried that her father would disapprove of Naruto as her friend. Naruto didn't know of the Hyuuga clan's caution with outsiders of their clan.

Naruto simply replied with a grin; "Yeah, being in... the same academy class... I kinda have to... know her or... I wouldn't be... a very good classmate."

Hiashi narrowed his eyes a bit while in his mind he was smirking at the boy's candid response.

"I see, but I wasn't referring to you saving my daughter, though I am immensely grateful for that as well. If I had killed this man, Kumo might have taken action or, outrageous as it may have been, demanded compensation for their loss. Most likely, they would've demanded my head."

Both Naruto's and Hinata's eyes widened at the explanation. "Wow, good thing we avoided that." Naruto said.

"Indeed. But let's not dally, you must be taken to a hospital."

"No need. I'm a fast healer." Naruto said dismissively.

"What?" Said both the Hyuugas.

"Yeah, I've had this far-out healing... ability as long as I can remember. I'm already feeling better... as a matter of fact."

Hiashi activated his Byakugan to confirm. And sure enough, Naruto's injury in his heart was healed as if it was never there, though the chest wound was still gaping, albeit it too was considerably smaller and bleeding only a little.

Hiashi had a musing look as the considered this news. 'Now I remember, he is the Kyuubi child. The same one that also apparently was part of the Uchiha massacre if the rumors are true. I've had trouble ascertaining which rumor to believe, if he was on Itachi's side or the village's. I think I have my answer with tonight's events. I have to speak with the Hokage about this.'

Hinata was astounded by Naruto's new ability, at least it was new to her. But mostly, she was relieved to learn that Naruo would be ok. Throwing caution to the wind, Hinata embraced Naruto in a gentle hug, much to both Naruto's and Hiashi's surprise.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. You've saved my life and my father's, all in one night." She said happily and without stuttering for once.

"Heh, don't mention it. I would've done the same thing for anyone of my friends or anyone from the village, believe it." Naruto responded happily.

If it was anyone but Hinata, his words would've seemed like he didn't care about her in particular. And while it was in a sense true, Hinata knew better. She knew anyone he had gotten to know was special in his eyes through her... observations of him. In fact, she was more proud of her classmate than she ever had been and her admiration grew with her pride.

Hiashi, however, was torn. He didn't particularly care or gotten involved with Naruto before he went on his training trip with Yokai. He was still aware of the Kyuubi being sealed in him but had a more stand-offish attitude towards him, which was more or less the same with anyone not in familiar terms with the Hyuuga clan. Now faced with the fact Hinata, his precious daughter, was becoming friendly with the supposed village pariah, and if her hug was any indication, she was also developing an crush on him. Little did he know she already had long ago.

Being familiar with seals, though not a practitioner of them, he knew that the boy wasn't the beast, but it's living container, the walking prison. Still, it was unnerving knowing just what was housed inside the boy and that it could break free given the right circumstances. Anyone found close to him at that point would be in mortal danger. On the other hand, if it ever breaks out, no one on the planet was safe so it was a moot point.

Hiashi, being quite a logical man, figured that keeping the boy safe and happy was key was really in everyone's best interest. He briefly scolded himself for not considering this before, as Naruto's well being concerns his clan, not to mention their village.

And yet, he wouldn't simply allow Naruto and Hinata to fraternize freely. At least not until Hiashi had the chance to ascertain just what kind of person Naruto was, but he had to admit Naruto had made quite the initial impression.

"Hinata." Hiashi addressed his daughter. "Remove yourself from Naruto-san."

Hinata, who had realized what she had just done, did just that and looked down on the ground. 'Oh no, what have I done...'

"Naruto-san's wounds might reopen with too much movement." Hiashi finished. He missed Hinata's look of surprise and relief as he focused on Naruto.

"Naruto-san. How did you both alert myself and fight this scoundrel simultaneously?"

_Flashback no Jutsu_

_Hiashi was reading a book in his bedroom. One called "Jiman sorede Higami". His wife was sleeping beside him peacefully. He was just about to put a marker and go to sleep when a young boy slammed the door open to his bedroom._

"_Hyuuga-san!__ Hinata's __being__ kidnapped!__" __He__shouted__his__alarm._

_This made both parents become wide alert, though Hiashi's wife had the presence of mind to keep herself covered._

"_What?__ Who __are__ you?__ And__ how __do __you__ know __of__ this?__"_

"_No __time__ for__ that!__ He's __headed __for __the__ North __gate, __you__ have __to__ help!__"_

_Activating his Byakugan, Hiashi saw that Hinata's bedroom was indeed empty and looked as if there had been a small struggle. Needing no further incentive, he quickly donned his robe._

"_Hiashi?__" __Hinata's__ mother__ asked__ worriedly._

"_Stay__ here,__ Heisei.__" __Hiashi__ told__ her._

"_Is__ Hinata__ gone?__" __Heisei__ asked, __covering__ her__ mouth__ in__ shock._

"_Not__ if __I __have __any__ say __about__ this.__" __Hiashi__ said__ with __barely __contained__ fury__ and__ then __gave __chase, __giving__ the__ boy__ who __alerted __him__ no__ further__ thought.__ Before __Heisei__ could __say__ or__ do __any thing __further,__ the __boy __vanished __in__ a__ small__ explosion __of__ smoke, __though__ she__ noticed __a__ relieved __smile__ on__ his __face __before__ he__ disappeared._

_Flashback no Jutsu, release!_

"Sai-mul-teinously?" Naruto asked with half a frown and one eyebrow raised.

Hiashi had to chuckle, he forgot he was addressing a child with limited education and upbringing.

"Yes, meaning at the same time."

"Oh. I've learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto explained.

"The Kage Bunshin? That's preposterous, the rank and requirements for that jutsu is far too high for a child such as yourself to learn, much less perform."

"Pre-post-R-us?"

Hiashi sighed while Hinata quietly giggled behind her father, which only he heard. "It means 'absurd' or 'nonsensical'"

"Ah. Why don't you use more common words, Hyuuga-san? It's way easier to understand you if you do." Naruto said honestly.

Hiashi had to control himself or he would've scolded Naruto and that would not do for his reputation as a man in control of his emotions. Also, he had to remind himself of just who he was talking to. Had it been any other person he would have been offended. As it were, Hiashi was actually somewhat amused by Naruto's non-existent fear of him, but he still spoke with respect, or a certain amount of it at least which was commendable for a boy of his background.

On top of it all, Hinata's giggling behind him was both putting a strain on his patience and music to his ears.

"While I am more accustomed to how we speak in our clan, I shall try to speak so you can understand me easier."

"Thanks." Naruto said with a grin. He had to wonder why Hinata's father had to talk to stiffly, but he mentally shrugged as it wasn't something worth worrying about.

"At any rate, Naruto-san. How can you claim to perform the jutsu?"

"Because I learned it." Was his simple reply which frustrated Hiashi even more at the same time as amusing him. Hinata's giggling kept going. She couldn't stop because as soon as she started to get control of it Naruto's said something to make things even more funny even though he wasn't aware he did.

"No, I mean how can you actually do it, it takes a lot of charka, even for a Jounin rank shinobi."

"Eh, I dunno. I just have a lot of chakra reserves naturally. It's one of those perks I seem to be born with I guess."

Hiashi almost slapped himself. Of course the kid would have enormous surplus of chakra with the beast residing in the seal. It doesn't answer how he managed to learn this high-level jutsu. Hinata actually stopped giggling now that she learned another incredible fact about her crush.

"How did you learn the jutsu then?"

"I... am not allowed to tell unless I am with my sensei or the Hokage. If you want to know, we have to see Hokage-jiji." Naruto said, scratching his head and had an apologetic look on him. Yokai and the Hokage wanted Naruto's involvement in the Uchiha massacre to be kept to himself for now or until confronted about it directly. Naruto figured that this wasn't the time to tell about it so he semi-truthfully told gave his reason to Hiashi to keep the way he learned it and the circumstances around it a secret.

Hiashi, like many before him, was taken aback by Naruto's disrespectful suffix for the Hokage. Hinata couldn't stand it any longer, she laughed, clutching her stomach. She knew already about Naruto's relationship with the Hokage and affectionate term for their village leader, but her father's reaction to the suffix was priceless and came so suddenly Hinata had no way to prepare for it.

Hiashi, again, was shocked when Hinata started laughing. She hadn't laughed for a long time and he didn't know how much he missed it until now. Seeing his daughter in her mirthful state brought a small smile on his face. He then schooled his features and faced Naruto again, who was confused as to why Hinata was laughing. Hiashi had to admit the situation was rather humorous.

"You called our Hokage... jiji?"

"Yup, he's my surrogate grandfather." Naruto responded with a happy grin.

"I see." Hiashi said, shaking his head in amused disbelief. He should have at least suspected as much as he knew Sarutobi openly was fond of the boy.

"Unnn..." The unconscious man groaned as he started to come to.

"If you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to." Hiashi dryly said and then approached the Kumo ninja.

When he came around and faced him, he woke up fully. All he could see was the Hyuuga clan leader.

"Blast. I've been caught." He groaned in realization.

"That you have, now talk. What did you want with my daughter?"

"I wont talk, Hyuuga scum." The Kumo nin foolishly insulted.

"You are unwise to say so so soon into your captivity." Hiashi said darkly.

"You don't scare me, Hyuuga. I've been trained to ignore pain should I have been captured."

Hiashi closed the distance some between their faces. "Good for you." He said, as if he was complimenting him. "Even better for me." He finished with narrowed eyes, Byakugan activated.

"So, you thought to attempt another kidnapping of a Konoha ninja." Hiashi suddenly switched topic. Naruto was surprised by the statement. Someone else was kidnapped before by Kumo?

"Yeah, and I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for that meddling ghost ninja." The Kumo nin snarled.

"Ghost Stalker." Naruto mouthed in annoyance, unseen by anyone.

Hiashi raised an eyebrow in curiosity over the statement, he now was even more curious about Naruto's skills. Not only had he taken down this ninja, and if some of the rumors were true, Itachi too, but he did so in a manner that prompted his foe to call him such.

Still with his eyebrow raised in question, Hiashi asked. "Didn't you know?"

"What?" The Kumo nin made a face of contempt.

"Lightning never strikes the same place twice." Hiashi said before touching the nin's forehead and using his Juuken (Gentle Fist) skill, sent the man into unconsciousness once again.

"Hey, pretty cool jab you did there, Hyuuga-san." Naruto grinned in appreciation.

Hiashi didn't show any sign of acknowledging Naruto's compliment as he picked up the semi-masked shinobi.

"Hinata. Assist Naruto-san, we're going home."

"Yes, father." Hinata nodded in the affirmative and blushed as she took Naruto's arm and started to help him walk.

"Hey, it's ok. I can walk just fine." Naruto mildly protested.

"I... insist you t-take it as easy as possible, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata replied, smiling and blushing.

"No, really. You don't have to bother... I am almost all healed up anyway." Naruto continued his protest as they walked.

"B-but you might m-make it worse otherwise. I... I wont take th-that risk." Hinata proclaimed.

"But I..." Naruto started. But he decided to give up, it was because she cared after all. 'Man I can't seem to even resist the gentle types of girls.' He joked to himself, remembering his little drag-along from the hospital the other day. "Thanks, Hinata." He then said with a smile.

Hinata blushed prettily. She had no doubt she would have fainted in any other situation, but she was not about to allow Naruto to go without her help until he was ok again. "Y-you're welcome, N-Naruto-kun."

Hiashi watched the little exchange as he followed behind them, a hint of a smirk on his face.


	26. Secret Hero

Chapter 25: Secret Hero

The trek back to the village was uneventful, which, to Naruto, was a weird contrast to the reason which preluded it.

That didn't mean the two young students didn't enjoy their trip. Hinata did for having the opportunity to help her love and hero get back home to treat his injury, not to mention hold him close while doing so. Naruto enjoyed the help and camaraderie that he just found with Hinata and, to a lesser extent, her father.

On the way, Hinata and Naruto talked, well mostly Naruto made small talk and Hinata listened. She asked a few questions and commented, albeit still meekly, with stutters. But she was smiling all the time, having an internal battle to keep from fainting out of pure bliss.

Hiashi had expected her to be like always, quiet and shy, even with, or maybe even because of her kidnapping and her rescue. But he noticed that Hinata had lost some of that as she talked somewhat more than he thought she would. Her ever present smile was just as surprising but also a welcome change.

'Is it because of him being her rescuer or has she had feelings for him prior to this night's events?' Hiashi pondered. 'Regardless, I am pleased to see her slowly breaking out of her shell. Being the clan heiress, she cannot remain as she always have.' He mused further.

Hiashi might have been a strict and outwardly cold father towards Hinata. But the way of the Hyuuga didn't encourage gentleness, despite the contradicting name for their combat specialty; "The Gentle Fist". Hiashi had pondered many times how to mold Hinata into an ideal heiress without removing her personality altogether, as he realized her kind and caring attitude is something the clan sorely lacks as much as needs.

Sadly, he found no such way. He had tried talking to Hinata and gave her the blunt approach. And while Hinata said she would try to be as her father wished, she couldn't find it in her heart to be anything but shy and kind, something she inherited from her mother. As time progressed, her confidence in herself withered as she didn't advance her skills fast enough nor had she shown any strictness towards the branch family servants. She even started to lose her spars with her younger sister.

To Hinata, everyone in the clan should be considered family, but the elders wouldn't allow it. "Only the main family is to be considered such and the branch family are all but slaves to be controlled." Was their teaching. To enforce their rule, they put seals on the bodies of the branch family members that react to main members' related jutsu. When activated, they could influence the seals to either inflict various degrees of pain to discipline their subjects or outright kill them if they deem it necessary.

The official reason was that the seal was present to protect the family jutsus and their powerful eyes from falling into outsider hands, as they have the potential to destroy anything that can be used to somehow gain possession of the mighty bloodline.

And while that was true, it was only half of the entirety. Secretly, the elders enjoyed and abused their power over their 'minor' relatives and strove to maintain that power over generations. Hiashi rarely ever practiced this right himself unless severe insubordination occurred.

Hinata was given the rights at about the time she started the academy. She has not even considered using it once.

Hinata hasn't told anyone this, but one of her dreams was to become the clan leader so she could change their ways and make their relatives equal to themselves and remove the offending seal that binds the branch members to the main, or at least remove the part the elders abuse while still retaining the part that protects the clan's secrets in case of capture. That was the true reason her confidence had dropped as it seemed she was getting further and further away from her goal despite her efforts, the fact her skills weren't on par was actually a symptom rather than the cause which Hiashi believed it was.

Hiashi recalled how happy he felt upon hearing Hinata laugh and her overall relaxed and happy reactions despite such a dark event and gloomy setting when around the boy, she definitely wasn't that way around her father. He needed to have a talk with his wife about this, he didn't like the thought of Hinata being unhappy in their own home.

Back with the pair of students, Hinata recalled her and Ayame's talk about their favorite blond boy. She remembered Ayame's advice on how to get stronger as well as getting closer to Naruto. Gathering up her courage, she addressed Naruto.

"Na-Naruto-k-kun?" She all but whispered.

"Huh? Did you say something, Hinata?"

"Y-yes. I... was wondering if... you would..." Hinata stuttered and swallowed nervously as she spoke slowly and lowly.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked, more curious about her sudden dive into meekness than her upcoming question.

"I-if you would... like to... study and train... t-together sometime?" Hinata finally asked.

"Oh, sure thing. I could use some help with some of this hard stuff Iruka's throwing at us." Naruto answered happily.

"Your teacher throws weapon on his own students?" Hiashi asked with a raised eyebrow, which was the equivalent of mild shock for Hyuugas.

"What? No, I meant the things in the books we get for homework." Naruto replied, secretly shivering of the mental image the question generated.

Iruka could be a nice and caring teacher one moment and the next he could be the tutor from hell when the class got a bit unruly. If he started throwing shuriken as part of his disciplinary measures, Naruto had no doubt he would have no more problems keeping the class in line all day long.

"Oh, I see." Hiashi said. He had to admit. Today's student lingo is unfamiliar to him. He briefly mused if this is how Naruto felt when the two talked before.

"So anyway. Yeah, Hinata. Let's do that. What do you need help with the most?"

"Um... I would... I could use a... a sparring partner." She replied.

"Daughter, don't you have a sparring partner in your cousin and your younger sister?" Hiashi asked.

"Oh, yes..." Hinata answered. "But... I have no one that... has not received training in our family style. I think it would be good to learn to fight... someone like that." Her analytical side, for she had a keen mind, kicked in and provided a logical response. While not as keen as Shikamaru's or Sakura's mind, she was still above average for someone her age.

Hiashi didn't believe her for a second. Oh, there was logic behind her given reason, but he knew better. But he decided to go along with it.

"Very well, Hinata. What say you, Naruto-san?"

"Sure thing! As long as I get some help with the books when I need it." He grinned.

Hiashi nodded. "Very good. I will leave it to you to come to agreements on when you want to spar and study together."

Hinata was surprised, normally nothing would come between training and studying the clan ways.

"Father?"

"You have received enough Juuken (Gentle Fist) versus Juuken training for the time being, daughter. But your scheduled clan studies remain." Hiashi stated firmly.

"Y-yes, father." Hinata replied. Inside, she was ready to burst with joy of being free enough to practically train and study with Naruto whenever she wished. Clan studies were performed on Saturdays and she knew Naruto usually made a point to mostly relax on Saturdays anyway when she overheard him and his friends talking one day.

"Sweet, how about we start tomorrow with that homework we got on survival the other day?" Naruto asked happily.

Hinata nodded while smiling, not trusting her voice at the moment.

Hiashi watched the two as they discussed their future cooperation. He intended to observe them during their studies. 'It will give me the perfect opportunity to not only see if this will lead to improvement for you, my daughter, but to also learn more about Naruto and what sort of person he is.'

They soon after arrived at the Hokage tower. They were met with the night guard shinobi as well as a couple of Hyuuga main family members, Heisei was one of them. She was greatly relieved and elated that her daughter was returned home safely and hugged her like there was no tomorrow, crying tears of joy. Hinata, not being on the receiving end of such affection very often, enjoyed it immensely as she returned it.

Hiashi spoke to the guards, demanding that the kumo scum be locked up till morning when they all will be debriefed by the Hokage himself. They did so and Naruto was about to go home when Hiashi grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping him.

"Naruto-san. There's one more matter I need to discuss with you." He said with nothing but seriousness in his voice and face, which wasn't out of the ordinary.

"Fire away, Hyuuga-san." Naruto replied politely.

"This night's events must be kept from the public. It would not do for the people to think the Hyuuga, the strongest clan Konoha has to offer, are vulnerable. Since you are fully healed and have no need to go to the hospital, I trust you will keep all this to yourself?" Hiashi said. Naruto could tell this was not a request, it was an order.

"... Okay, if you say so. But if you don't mind me asking, why is it such a bad thing for people to know that the Hyuuga are human just like themselves?"

"What do you mean? Of course we are human." Hiashi asked, not knowing if he should be offended.

"Then what's the problem? Being vulnerable is part of being human." Naruto replied honestly.

Hiashi sighed. "You and I both know that. But, to my shame, my clan's pride in being the strongest in Konoha, being the seemingly unbeatable clan, is something quite volatile and if disturbed it could cause considerable problems both on the inside and the outside of the clan. I am trying to prevent this."

Naruto frowned and looked downwards in thought. After a moment, he re-affixed his gaze on Hiashi.

"My teacher once told me there are two forms of pride. One of love and one of selfishness. "Pride out of love is good and nurtures growth while the other is the cause for much pain and stunts development." That's what he said. I didn't get it back then, much, but I think I am starting to." Naruto said, his face showing clearly his dislike of the situation.

"Indeed, Naruto-san, I agree. I see this myself and desire for change but there's nothing at present I can do. Please, do as I ask of you." Hiashi asked kindly, but still, somehow, conveyed the importance through his look.

Naruto sighed and briefly looked at the ground before answering"Alright. No one will hear it from me, I promise." He then looked back up at Hiashi with a sad smile. "And I am a guy of my word."

"I thank you again, Naruto-san. You are an honorable man. It seems we Hyuuga have come to owe you a lot in just one night." Hiashi said.

"Naw, don't mention it. I did what anyone would have done had they been me." Naruto said, grinning and rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. He has never been considered a man by anyone before.

'Don't be too sure, Naruto-san.' Hiashi thought. There were those that resented the Hyuuga.

Naruto turned to Hinata, who was still reassuring her mother that she was alright. He walked up to her.

"Hey, Hinata."

"Oh... N-Naruto-kun." Hinata responded, along with a pink hue to her face and twiddling of her fingers. It seems now that everything was back to normal, her shy and meek attitude returned full force.

"I look forward to our studying, thanks a lot for the offer." He said with a happy grin. "So, I will see you tomorrow, don't forget to bring your books. 'Night!" Naruto said and then turned to walk home.

Hinata nodded and gave a small wave of her hand. Once again not trusting her voice. Heisei hadn't the same problem and said goodnight. Like most women, she was very observant of her daughter's demeanor and could tell she had a crush on the boy who was part of her rescue.

"Studying?" She asked Hinata.

"Um... we agreed to... study together... when we walked back." She replied.

"That's wonderful, sweetie. But what about..." Heisei began but was interrupted by her husband.

"Hinata's clan studies remain, but for now her Juuken practices are adequate and should be put to the test against someone of a different style." Hiashi said, giving his wife a meaningful look. How that look could have been read any different from any other time he displayed it is anyone's guess. But his wife knew him well so she caught his drift easily.

"Oh, I see." She replied with a smile. "Too bad he left so soon, I would have liked to thank him personally for saving our daughter."

"Indeed. But there will be another opportunity tomorrow, Heisei-chan." Hiashi said with a rare smile.

"Ano... what did you speak with Naruto about, father?" Hinata asked.

Hiashi knew what was coming and sighed. "I asked him to not reveal any of this night's events to anyone."

"But, father!" Hinata blurted out. "Naruto-kun is a hero! He deserves to get the recognition and praise!" Hinata pleaded rather vehemently.

"Not to mention those dark rumors going around about the boy." Heisei added. "He could use the recognition to..." But a sharp look from Hiashi silenced Heisei.

"What rumors?" Hinata asked.

"Nothing to be concerned about, Hinata." Hiashi stated.

"But father." Hinata pleaded.

"That is enough." Hiashi said, sternly. "Naruto-san will not go unrewarded. It just cannot be made public."

Hinata wanted to protest that, but as Hiashi said he will get some reward she was put more at ease.

"Now, come. Let's get back home and sleep. We have things to attend to tomorrow." Hiashi said, and all present heard the finality in his tone.


	27. Superbia Duplicitas

Sorry for the late update and the fact this is such a short chapter. I just wanted to post a chapter around Christmas and I couldn't get a chapter I was content with outside of the below written part. The "rest" will have to be a part of the next chapter instead, which I will try to lengthen to compensate.

At any rate, here's the next chapter in the adventures of Naruto: The Ghost Stalker. Enjoy!

*Naruto Shippuden OST Senya**

*Naruto Shippuden OST Man of the World**

Chapter 26: Superbia Duplicitas

Naruto returned home that night and promptly went to bed, quite pleased with how the day and night turned out. After all, it wasn't everyday you got to rescue a pretty girl, who happen to be as close to a princess as one could get, from the clutches of a strong villain.

But he was reminded of his talk and subsequent pledge to Hiashi to not speak of it. He found he had two reasons to keep quiet.

The first being his promise to Hiashi, of course. The second being what his sensei told him about pride and by extension, bragging.

_Flashback no Jutsu*_

"_I did it, sensei!" The eight and a half year old Naruto shouted in joy._

_Naruto had just managed to get the Spirit Stride jutsu down and could hold it for 3 minutes without Yokai managing to detect him through normal means._

"_Well done, Naruto. Well done indeed." Yokai complemented._

"_Now I can do super secret missions and take on chuunin level ninja with ease." Naruto boasted in his elation._

_Yokai sweat-dropped and said. "Slow down, Naruto. You're anything but ready for that yet."_

"_What do you mean, Sensei? I can use this jutsu to sneak around and nobody would notice me."_

"_Actually, Naruto, there are ninja quite capable of detecting you even with this jutsu in place. As I've told you before we started this part of the training, this jutsu has its weaknesses."_

"_I know the weaknesses, sensei, I wont let the enemy take advantage of them." Naruto replied with confidence._

"_Settle down, Naruto." Yokai said, somewhat sternly. The effect was immediate, Naruto quieted down and listened. His sensei had gotten Naruto's respect and admiration to the point that Naruto obeyed his orders without question. This was definitely an order._

_Sighing, Yokai motioned for Naruto to come and sit down with him. He did so. Yokai then looked Naruto straight in the eyes and asked;_

"_Naruto, can you tell me the definition of pride?"_

_Naruto pondered a bit but shook his head in the negative. "I sort of know what it means, but I can't really tell it in detail. Sorry, sensei."_

_Yokai waved his hand dismissively. "That's OK, I didn't expect you to know anyway. But I think it's high time you learned what exactly the two faces of pride entail."_

"_The two faces?" Naruto asked, confused._

"_Yes, Naruto. Pride is a double edged sword." Yokai stated._

"_Wait, I thought we were talking about faces, not edges." Naruto said, even more confused._

_Yokai realized he still had some ways to go when it comes to teaching metaphors to Naruto. Giving an amused smile and a small shake of his head, Yokai said;_

"_In this case, it is the same thing. Let me explain. On the one hand, you have a face or edge that is the good one. The side of pride that is good. And the other side that is bad, evil even."_

_Naruto said nothing, only listened intently.**_

"_First, the good sort of pride. A parent or teacher," Yokai winked, prompting Naruto to smile. "can feel pride towards their child or student when they perform well or act in a way that pleases them. In that pride, they will lavish the child or student with praise and encouragement, prompting him or her to continue performing and learning the way he or she has so far. Though there has to be a balance to this as well or it will backfire in the long run."_

_Naruto nodded, understanding.*_

"_Then there's the dark side of pride. The one that takes root in the hearts of arrogant people. Their pride stems from the fact or illusion that they, in some manner or another, are better and superior than their peers or fellow men and women, which for some reason makes them think they are automatically better in everything else._

_Their pride leads them to act with disdain and outright hatred towards others. And these are just examples of pride. There are other types you will encounter in life. But a rule-of-thumb for you to determine which is which is this: Pride out of love is good and nurtures growth while the other, pride for pride's sake, is the cause for much pain and stunts development."_

_Naruto nodded, but he didn't get it what his sensei meant with this lecture._

"_I think I get it, sensei. But why are you telling me this right now?" He said, scratching the back of his head in a gesture of confusion and curiosity._

"_Because you were starting to have one foot on the path of dark pride." Yokai said seriously._

_"Huh!" Naruto exclaimed, shocked by the implication. "What makes you say that? Haven't I lived by the code you taught me; to always respect other people, to value life and not take a life lightly, to use my strengths and skills to protect myself and my loved ones and to combat the darkness?"_

"_That is not in question, Naruto." Yokai responded, still serious but also somewhat soothingly, raising his hands in a placating manner._

"_Then what have I done wrong?" An upset Naruto asked._

"_Nothing yet, Naruto. But you were about to."_

_Looking at his sensei in a bewildered fashion, and Yokai could also sense some hurt coming from him, Naruto asked the obvious question, "How?"_

_Placing one of his hands on Naruto's shoulder, Yokai said kindly, "You were starting to brag. Bragging is one of the most common things one does that leads one on the path of dark pride. Because, Naruto, when you brag, you do it more often as it feels good. Then, eventually, you start believing it yourself. And when you do, you also start thinking that you're better than everyone else. And that can only lead to disaster. For not only will it lead to you be at odds with other people, you could die as a result. Take for example, you think you are so good that you underestimate an enemy who is, in reality, superior in skill to you, then in one way or another beats you, and a beaten ninja rarely lives to regret it."_

_His sensei's words were true. He had started to brag and acted slightly arrogant. After realizing this, he felt terrible. He had failed and disappointed his sensei. His eyes started to grow blurry with tears as he spoke to his sensei,_

"_I'm sorry. I've disappointed you, sensei. I failed you... I..." But he was cut off by Yokai, who had embraced him in a hug._

"_Nooo." Yokai whispered in a soothing voice. "You haven't failed, Naruto. You haven't disappointed me. I would have been, had you not heeded my words. Everyone who are on the path of learning will invariably step wrong at least one time. It is learning from the wrong things one did that defines growth. If anything, you have only made me even more proud, Naruto."_

_As Yokai spoke, Naruto started to silently weep. He was so worried that he had disappointed Yokai, his first sensei, his first close friend and father figure, with his actions that he just wanted to die. Such was the value Naruto put into his first bond he ever had in his, till that point, painful and lonely existence._

"_Sshhh. It's alright." Yokai reassured as he comforted the now openly crying boy, hugging him tightly. Knowing what brought on this reaction from Naruto, he couldn't help but shed a tear himself for the boy who he thought of as his adopted son, though that was left unsaid.**_

_Flashback no Jutsu – Release!_

It was at that point in time that Naruto came to hate arrogance and what he had come to learn as 'dark pride'. The experience of almost disappointing his sensei with bragging cemented his standpoint and each time he made visible progress and accomplishments he was still happy about it, but he learned to have a humble viewpoint to it, much to his teacher's pride, the positive kind.

Yokai had said that he thought he would have to teach Naruto to be humble too. But Naruto had learned that all on his own, which came as a positive surprise to him. Yokai did emphasize that Naruto by all means should still be happy about any of his accomplishments and developments.

What Naruto had taught himself afterward was to deny any thoughts that could be associated with 'dark pride' whenever he made progress. It sure wasn't easy at times. As with any love-and-affection starving children, Naruto was sorely tempted to use his growing powers to gain recognition in various towns they visited in their travels.

But, being who he is, Naruto absolutely refused to make the same mistake twice, or break his word.

His thoughts wandered further to Hinata and their future... partnership, he guessed he could call it, in study. He really looked forward to that. Sure, he and his other friends have occasionally helped each other out with various stuff. But nothing that was on a regular basis. The clan heirs usually studied and trained with their respective clans and the rest of the classmates he didn't know that well, because they didn't want anything to do with him in the first place. The person he could say came closest to a steady study partner would be Sasuke, but they were more like sparring partners or rivals, either could be applied to their relationship.

But with Hinata this would be a golden opportunity to get a true study partner, not to mention a new friend which was always a huge plus in Naruto's books. Then there's also the fact that this would mean another awesome sparring partner, he would have to have lived in a cave far away from Konoha to not know of the Hyuuga and their feared taijutsu. He knew that he was in for some pain, but he was no stranger to it nor was he wary of it.

With those thoughts, he closed his eyes and soon was sound asleep.


	28. Matters of Honor

Chapter 27: Matters of Honor

The following morning, the Hokage and Hiashi were found in his office along with the dishonest shinobi from Kumo.

"Report, Hiashi-dono." The aged leader ordered with no indication of shock. He was given the gist of the events by the night's shift shinobi as he entered his office right before they rotated the guards. Sarutobi was once again shocked and dismayed by the events, particularly since this happened so close to the Uchiha Massacre. And once again Naruto was in the middle of it.

"Lord Hokage," Hiashi began. "This... cretin, had the audacity to attempt a kidnapping of my daughter, Hinata, right from her own bedroom in MY home." He reported, giving a frosty glare at the nin who didn't seem affected in the least, sporting an indifferent face.

"I see, and how was this crime averted?" Hiruzen queried.

"I was alerted during the night by an academy student who was a witness to the event and I promptly gave chase to the perpetrator. Upon arrival in the forest not far outside the village walls, I came upon my daughter who was still bound and gagged but otherwise unharmed in some bushes. Nearby was the unconscious body of the kidnapper, hanging by his feet, which were bound in rope and tied to a tree branch."

"You weren't the one that averted this disaster?" The Hokage asked, though he already knew that Hiashi didn't perform the rescue.

"No, Hokage-sama. Upon interrogating the hostile, he started to babble about some ghost ninja." Hiashi said.

"I wasn't babbling, I was telling the truth!" The nin exclaimed indignantly.

"You will be silent unless spoken to, am I understood?" The Hokage said with a dark glare.

"Fine." The nin responded, seemingly indifferent. This indifference to his situation was a cause for concern to the Hokage, but he didn't let that show.

"Then what?" Sarutobi further inquired.

"Upon finishing my interrogation of the enemy, I knocked him out with Juuken and carried him back to the village, followed by my daughter." Hiashi finished.

The leader of the village sat in a brief contemplation before addressing the Kumo agent.

"What do you have to say in your defense, Kumo?" His tone even, there was no mistaking the underlying anger.

"I have nothing to say to you, Konoha." The ex-diplomat replied defiantly.

"Very well. ANBU, take this piece of trash away to the holding cells!" The fire shadow commanded his ever present personal guard, who proceeded to remove the offending presence.

Once he was gone, Hiashi addressed Sarutobi once more. "Hokage-sama, it was Naruto-san who came and alerted me."

"I know, the night guard told me he was with you when you came back." The Hokage replied.

"But that wasn't all, he was also the one to battle and defeat the Kumo nin." Hiashi added. That was new to the Hokage. He was only aware of Naruto-san's presence upon Hiashi's return from the night guard who also told the Hokage the testimony of Heisei, Hiashi's wife.

"I was only told by the guards that Naruto alerted you and your wife and was with you when you came back."

"Correct on both accounts, Hokage-sama. But as I said, he was the key element in my daughter's rescue, by defeating the Kumo nin."

"But how was he able to be in two places at once?" The Hokage had to ask.

"According to Uzumaki-san when I questioned him upon locating him in the forest nearby the unconscious enemy, he had learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu at some point and was thus able to give chase and ultimately face the enemy ninja while simultaneously alerting myself and my wife to our daughter's peril."

Sarutobi was stupefied. Once again Naruto has managed to be in the thick of great events and not only managed that, but to once again perform feats that should not be possible for a pre-genin student.

"How did he defeat an ninja of that man's caliber? As a diplomatic nin, his combat skills are nothing to frown upon."

"I wish I knew myself, Sarutobi-dono. But he was wounded upon discovery and..."

"Wounded? Why haven't I heard of his admittance to the hospital?" Konoha's leader exclaimed.

"Worry not, Hokage-sama. His injuries were not life-threatening. At least due to his tenant they weren't. I admit I was concerned for his well being initially, seeing as his heart was nicked by what appeared to be a kunai. But his wounds were healing rapidly and was completely recovered upon our return to the village."

Leaning back in his chair in both relief and disbelief, Sarutobi let go of his breath he had held once he learned of Naruto's wound.

'Naruto-kun, if you keep this up, I might be forced to retire from this job prematurely due to a failing heart.' He mused.

"Kami, how can that boy be such a magnet for trouble?" He then said with a sigh.

"Hokage-sama?" Hiashi asked, confused.

"Never mind, Hiashi-dono." The Sandaime said, giving a wave as if to make nothing of his previous statement. He then fixed his gaze upon Hiashi again, "I have to ask you though, why did you not think Naruto's presence in this debriefing was necessary despite his, obliviously, integral part in last night's ordeal?"

Hiashi had to lower his head as he was feeling deep regret in what he had to ask of the Third.

"Hokage-sama. It is for the sake of my clan that I have decided to exclude Uzumaki-san from this debriefing."

Raising both brows, the aged Hokage said, "Please clarify."

"Lord Hokage, if it were to be spread that the Hyuuga clan had suffered a kidnapping attempt that, though foiled, was allowed to progress as far as it did, having the abductor nearly succeed in his mission..."

The Hokage merely nodded, both indicating he was listening intently and prompting the Hyuuga to continue.

"... then the reputation of the Hyuuga would be critically tarnished. And not a little would be due to the fact an academy student would have been the Hyuugas' hero, as if we were so weak to rely upon a child who has not even entered into his teens yet. My clan prides itself greatly upon our reputation as the Hidden Leaf's greatest and strongest clan, regardless whether we actually are or not. Should the reputation suffer a blow of this magnitude, the clan would end up in internal political chaos that will spread to and affect the outside in various ways, hampering our duties and relationship to the village or worse." Hiashi explained with visible dismay.

The explanation made the old leader frown and grimace in disappointment. Hiashi continued. "It is with great regret, Hokage-sama, that I must request, nay, demand that this whole incident be classified information, Naruto-san's involvement included, for the better of my clan and by extension the village itself. I wanted to make this demand of you before you brought Uzumaki-san here, as I know you must."

The eldest Hokage ever in the Leaf Village sat there with his forehead leaned upon his clasped hands. Hiashi noted that mentioned hands were starting to shake a little and building up in intensity until finally the hands opened and slammed the palms upon the table as the Hokage rose to his feet and turned to the window, anger and sorrow evident upon his wrinkled visage.

Not daring to interrupt his venerable leader from his thoughts, Hiashi opted to merely wait for Sarutobi to finish collecting himself. Finally, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned back from his contemplation and once again sat in his chair, resuming his previous posture.

Clearing his throat, Hiashi spoke. "Hokage-sama, may I ask what is troubling you so and if I can be of assistance?"

Taking a deep breath and then releasing it in a deep sigh, the sensei of the sannin looked up at Hiashi, replying with a concerned face.

"Hiashi-dono. What can you tell me of the rumors going around regarding our young hero?"

A bit unprepared for the nature of the question, Hiashi nevertheless was quick to recollect what he had heard.

"The rumors vary some. Some tell of Naruto in a less then favorable light, claiming him to be a rebellious prankster, a mischievous bully and such, and some even going so far as describing him as the demon brat and more along the same line of thinking, bordering upon breaking the law you've put into place regarding the boy had these people not already known about him. But those have circulated as long as young Uzumaki-san has lived basically."

Hiruzen, aware of these same rumors gave a thoughtful nod as Hiashi resumed his recounting.

"But the latest rumors tell of Naruto-san being partially responsible for the Uchiha Massacre, though no one can tell in which manner he supposedly was. The people have theorized, upon hearing the rumor, that he used the fox to slaughter the clan or that he corrupted the clan from within and had them kill each other with the use of his tenant's influence."

Hiruzen knew this was coming, but that didn't ease his pang of disappointment in his people for going so far with their paranoia.

"However," Hiashi continued in a distinctively more pleased tone. "I have also heard rumors of the boy being quite the opposite. Those rumors have told of Naruto-san having fought the murderer and helped to safeguard at least Uchiha Sasuke's life. People who have heard this, however, don't take to this rumor as easily as the other, much darker ones. Some do listen and seem to ponder what they have heard."

That was to be expected as well. It is, in general, awfully easy to cling to old hatreds and not alter one's views so suddenly without apparent proof. So it seems right now that Naruto's reputation has at least slowly gained some ground in his favor, and growing. But it was still painstakingly slow.

"They do not speak of who actually did the murders?" Sarutobi asked.

"They do but none has been able to give a definitive answer when asked who actually did the deeds."

'Good, that means that at least Itachi's and the Uchiha's reputation with the civilians is still intact. Much like with the Hyuugas, it wouldn't do well for the pride of the village, which are, or rather were, the Uchiha, to be utterly dragged through the mud. At the very least until all aspects of this mess are revealed. Then I will know what is what and what the best course of action will be, hopefully.' Sarutobi mused.

"Hokage-sama, may I venture a guess as to why you would ask this?" Hiashi queried.

Giving a somewhat fatigued smirk, he replied. "Go ahead, Hiashi-dono."

Nodding, Hiashi spoke, "Based upon your reactions earlier, Lord Hokage, I have surmised that Naruto-san has indeed been part of the massacre." Hiruzen mentally frowned as he didn't see exactly what Hiashi meant or where he was going with this. "But I know for a fact that young Uzumaki and yourself have a bond closely resembling that of a family. Therefore it stands to reason that you want Naruto-san to be seen in a better light then the despicable rumors that has circulated around him his entire life."

Nodding his agreement to what Hiashi has said so far, Hiruzen continued to listen.

"It also stands to reason that as the Hokage, you wouldn't go so far as to blatantly disregard Naruto-san's actions should he have been partially responsible for the deaths of the Uchiha. Therefore I have concluded that the favorable rumors regarding young Naruto are the ones based upon fact. But now that last night's occurrences has brought the opportunity to further advance Naruto's reputation you wanted to capitalize upon it, only to find yourself in this situation; me demanding this be classified."

"Absolutely correct, Lord Hiashi. The reason behind my wanting to exploit the opportunity to increase his reputation is because there are already sinister forces at work trying to minimize his development in every aspect and I am constantly trying to run damage control and prevention."

"I understand. But I must sadly stand firm in my demands, Lord Hokage." Hiashi declared, leaving a bitter taste in his own mouth.

"Yes. And so it shall be, I just hope Naruto will not hold it against me." The Professor agreed, sorrowfully.

"I would not worry about that part, I have already spoken with the young man and he has already agreed to keep this a secret." Hiashi reassured.

"Oh, I see. That is a relief I suppose." The Hokage said. "Still, each of these times that the boy has gone far beyond our expectations and risked his life, still as a pre-genin, he's come out on top in the latest event and in the previous he was a vital part of the village's defense against a traitor. But in neither case was he met with praise. Instead, he was rewarded with either distrust and outright scorn or, as in this case, will not be reaping the well earned rewards. You see what is wrong with this picture, Lord Hiashi?"

"All too well, Lord Sarutobi, all too well." Hiashi sighed. "Yet, I did vow that he will not go unrewarded by my clan. He has done more for my family in one night than I could ever expect from a single ninja in his or her entire career."

This was unexpected for the leader of the Leaf. "How so, Hiashi? I mean besides the obvious."

"The obvious is that he saved my daughter, alerted myself to her kidnapping and agreed to keep this secret gracefully. What he has done additionally, he has done without being aware of it or being aware of the extent of the meaning. He has made my daughter laugh," Hiashi recollected with a fond smile, a rarity to behold upon a Hyuuga's face. "and agreed to be her studying partner. Which I am convinced is her way to grow as a Hyuuga properly, as opposed to my way of raising her."

Rubbing his chin, Sarutobi had to ask. "Made her laugh, you say? What is so remarkable about that, not that it isn't good to hear?"

"Hinata is a very shy and meek girl who tend to be somewhat reclusive as well. She is polite and kind enough, but she is not an initiator of things. She lacks the basic courage to stand up for herself. I have, however, noticed that she seems to be infatuated with the boy and was actively working to ascertain his well being and assist his trek back to the village. During this she was more open and prone to giggling as a result of Naruto-san's conversational... skills. It is my belief that Naruto may be a catalyst to bring out the Hinata my clan needs as a successor to the head position. Naruto's agreement to the suggestion that Hinata herself laid before him is another unwitting service to our clan he has performed."

"I see. You are not adverse to her fraternizing with the boy? Considering what he contains."

"First off, I have every confidence in the Yondaime's seal and how it works, even thought I admit it became apparent to me after I had decided to refresh my knowledge of the workings of seals some time ago. The fact remains, Naruto-san is his own person, his prisoner is a separate entity and I do not in any stretch of the imagination hold it against him. Secondly, I am neither for nor against them spending time with one another per se. I am, however, for her gains as a kunoichi in training and thus I endorse this. Thirdly, even if I was against them fraternizing it would be foolish of me to even harbor the notion to try keeping them apart since they are in the same class. Finally, it also gives me an opportunity to learn about Uzumaki-san as a person."

"Yes. Yes I see where you're coming from with this. But you aren't worried about them getting into a relationship further down the line?"

"I would only be worried should I find out that Naruto-san turns out to be an unsavory character. But I have little worry of that happening based upon my initial impressions of him. As it stands, Hinata's growth takes precedence presently. Should Naruto-san turn out to be not only a strong shinobi, but also of strong and admirable character, I would not be adverse to them forming a relationship."

"That is great to hear, Hiashi-dono. But I am still concerned about one thing."

"What is it?"

"If we find ourselves with them becoming a pair, what will be of their eventual children? Will they automatically be bound to the Hyuuga clan or will they be Uzumaki?"

Hiashi frowned in thought. "If my clan remains the way it is, they will have to be considered Hyuuga. That much is certain. I suspect, however, that if Hinata grows the way I hope and she ultimately assumes the clan head position from me when I retire, she will bring about changes that will hopefully void our worries in this matter."

"You are hopeful for these changes?" Sarutobi asked, surprised by the candor shown by the Hyuuga clan head.

"I may be clan head of the Hyuuga. But I am not blind to its flaws. Nor am I against changing it. I am simply not in the most advantageous position to perform said changes myself. I am perfectly aware of the wishes my daughter has where our clan is concerned and that is why I am doing all in my power to assist her journey to the position. I fear though I have not done correctly, which Uzumaki might rectify with his... being him."

"I believe you are selling yourself a little short, my friend." Hiruzen commented with a smile. "While Naruto's help will be good for both of them, the fact you are now aware of the shortcomings of not only your clan but yourself as well gives you a rare opportunity to alter your own methods of raising your children."

Hiashi had to smile and nod at the Hokage's observation. "Yes, I believe you are correct, Lord Hokage. I thank you for saying that."

"You mentioned before that you still wished to reward Naruto in some manner? Do you have any thoughts as to how?"

"Indeed I do. While he, regretfully, cannot be allowed to gain the public recognition for the rescue of my precious daughter, I am considering a two part reward for him."

"Two part reward? Do tell."

"I wish to give immediate compensation in the form of money, secretly of course and under the condition that Naruto swears to handle them carefully as to not attract undue attention to his sudden influx of Ryos. The second part of my reward would depend on how he develops as an individual. Should he prove to be as honorable and strong as I suspect him to become, I wish to make the Hyuuga an ally of him and his eventual clan when he gets to the point he marries and has children. Though as it stands, he will always have the appreciation, respect and secret support of the Hyuuga. I demand no less from all my clan for his actions."

"Secret support, what would that entail exactly? I ask because he might not understand what that means practically."

"Well, you mentioned earlier that he has enemies that constantly tries to sabotage him, correct?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"I am saying that should Uzumaki-san find himself in trouble in which he cannot deal with it on his own my clan's doors will always be open to harbor him for as long as necessary until a solution can be brought about for him. It still has to be performed in absolute secrecy as to not bring about negative attention or suspicion to us."

The Hokage, quite impressed with the deal, nodded in approval. "Yes, that is a very beneficial deal for him. Though I hope the day never comes that he would have to resort to such desperate measures. I think he will be very happy to learn of that, Lord Hiashi."

Hiashi nodded with a pleased smile. Then he returned his face to its normal stoicism. "Now, Hokage-sama. I wish to inquire what is to become of the enemy ninja."

"Ah, yes. That is a delicate matter, that." Sarutobi said while puffing on his pipe he had managed to fire up while Hiashi asked his question. "I haven't quite decided how to go about it, yet."

"What is there to consider, he's an enemy and a treacherous one at that."

"Hmm, that he is. However, he has diplomatic immunity so I cannot punish him directly."

"Am I right to assume that any form of considerable physical harm would have dire ramifications?"

"Quite right. The Raikage is a... highly spirited individual and must be dealt with carefully, lest we find ourselves in a war started by his fiery temper alone. The way I see it, the best I can do is to have the Kumo nin escorted to the border, unchained, where the Kumo escort will assume responsibility of his safety. Thank heavens that you didn't harm or kill the nin on the spot as any other father in righteous wrath would have done."

"Yes, but the thanks goes, once again, to Naruto-san. He prevented me from executing the cretin, saying that it is up to you to decide what to do with him, especially since he's a diplomat."

Once again that day, the Hokage's eyes widened due to him being impressed with the actions and forethought of young Naruto.

"It would seem that is another reason your clan is indebted to him."

"Quite. And I already took that into account when I formulated my repayment plan. I just needed to confirm whether his claims of that man being a diplomat was true."

"The thing is Naruto wouldn't have know that he was had I not mentioned it to him right before said man came in while Naruto was on his way out and thus saw him."

"At any rate, I believe I am finished here, Hokage-sama."

"Not quite, Hiashi-dono. We still have to get Naruto and his sensei here to debrief them too and you are required to be here even though you might not have to say much due to you already recounting your end of it."

"Very well, I am fortunate to have little clan or other business today so I will gladly stay for it."

The Professor nodded and then called, "ANBU." Which promptly summoned one of his personal guard /couriers. "Fetch me Naruto Uzumaki and be sure to have his sensei with him as well."

"It will be done, my lord."

Once the ANBU vanished in a shunshin to perform the task he received, the Fire-shadow begun compiling a letter to the Raikage, being careful to formulate it in a way that declares clearly the actions of his subordinate while not insinuating that the Raikage was behind it, even though the Hokage personally thought that this was something typical of him. International law dictates that if a diplomatic shinobi was caught red-handed in acts of any form of sabotage or espionage, under which kidnapping obviously falls, then their diplomatic status is partially rescinded, giving the catching village enough authority to at least force the offender out of the country via escort and the offender is then forced to resign from diplomatic duties or the village he belongs to risk losing too much integrity in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Having finished the letter and reread it to make sure it was to his satisfaction, he then had the letter dispatched by messenger bird to Kumo.


	29. Web of Gossip, What Is The Spider?

Chapter 28: Web of Gossip, What Is The Spider?

"How many times do I have to tell you, Kiba? For the umpteenth time, it's called a "Manji" formation, not mangy. Stop getting it wrong and for the love of Kami stop being insulted by the littlest thing!" Iruka corrected Kiba exasperatedly.

"He can't help it, Iruka-sensei." Naruto replied from beside said boy. "It's too close to an insult in his clan's ears." Naruto said in Kiba's defense, placing an arm around him in a brotherly fashion. Kiba grinned appreciatively in response.

"Or maybe his ears are just too stuffed with fur to hear properly, you should clear them out every once in a while." Naruto then added with a mischievous grin.

That caused the class to laugh and Kiba to attempt to murder the laughing Naruto, much to the chagrin of Shikamaru and Iruka, Shikamaru for the elevated noise level and Iruka for his class getting disorderly.

"Class! Settle down, this instant!" Iruka called out, to no avail as Kiba and Naruto continued to scuffle and the class' attention solely on the fight. He realized there was only one thing left to do.

Forming a pair of seals, he silently uttered, "Ninja Art: Big-Head Jutsu."

He then took a deep breath and hollered as his head instantly grew big and scary-looking, "EVERYONE GET BACK TO YOUR SEATS AND SHUT THE HELL UP!" The results were near-instant. The class quieted down and returned their attention to their sensei. Kiba and Naruto had also stopped their brawling session and looked at Iruka with a fair amount of trepidation. Though Kiba seemed to want the last word in this little fight of theirs and made fast punch on Naruto's arm before things went completely calm. Iruka sighed and continued his lesson.

_'I've got to hand it to the Akimichis, that partial-expansion jutsu they contributed for my Class Control methods is very effective. I think I will use it as a standard from now on. This class is the most unruly I've had so far.'_ Was the thought Iruka briefly had before focusing on his lecture.

_'I think I was way wrong before. Iruka-sensei does 'so' not need shuriken to keep us in line, that giant face jutsu of his is the scariest thing I've ever seen. I swear I could feel the wind of his breath even from back here!'_ Naruto thought, just a bit shaken, yeah, just a tiny bit.

"So, like I was saying. This is called the "Manji" formation, as in mann-dji, not man-gee, alright?" Iruka said as he pointed with the pointer right on the set of circles representing the positions of ninja on the black board. The circles were in a square formation and in this example they were surrounding the VIP the example ninja are supposed to be protecting, marked with an X.

"However, more often than not, you, as Genin, will find yourselves in the position of lacking the fourth member, often due to the fact that the Jonin leader will deal with a significant threat that you possibly are not yet fit to handle and as such will be the last line of defense against the assailants. Should that be the case, the Manji formation is altered to fit the situation. Becoming a," Iruka spoke as he made the adjustments on the blackboard. "triangle formation in place of the square. As always, you are to face outwards to cover all angles of approach. Do not look in your comrades' directions, that's their responsibility. You cover yours and only react to any attack attempts made and your comrades' warnings."

Kiba raised his hand. "Yes, Kiba?" Iruka responsed. "Well, sensei, I was just wondering why we can't call it "Diamond Formation" or "Triad Formation" in case of the smaller one or something like that?"

"Because those are already taken by another formation I have yet to teach you. You just have to get used to the name like everybody else." Iruka said with a friendly smirk. Snickers could be heard throughout the class. To ease the embarrassment of his student, he added, "Take some comfort in that I've had classes where there were more than just one who had issues with terminologies, names and such. Believe me, they don't hold a candle to you as far as being a student go."

Kiba was visibly encouraged, or at least less embarrassed. Just then, however, the bell rang for lunchtime.

"Alright, class, we will resume after lunch in precisely 2 hours." Iruka announced as the students started filing out.

When Naruto entered the mess hall of the academy, he was approached by Yokai and an ANBU.

"Naruto, the Hokage wants something with the two of us. Let's go see him." Yokai told him. Naruto nodded and followed his sensei. Unknown to him, several students noticed his departure and the company he left in.

"Hey, why's that Naruto guy walking away with that ANBU and that other guy?" One said.

"Beats me, but it could have something to do with the massacre that happened recently." Another spoke.

"What? No way? Do you think there's some truth to the rumor that Naruto was somehow involved in it?"

"Involved and maybe responsible for it, if the rumors are to be believed anyway."

"Woah, he could be going for an interrogation if that ANBU was anything to go by."

That little exchange didn't go unheard by nearby students who then started to talk in similar patterns. It didn't take very long until it reached the ears of Naruto's friends.

Kiba, being the most vocal of them, reacted immediately. "What sort of bullshit is that?" he shouted, attracting the attention of everyone in the mess hall.

"Kiba, sit down, don't let them get to you." Chooji said.

"Let them get to me? Did you even hear the accusation they spewed out against Naruto?"

"No, but what difference does it make from any other time they dirt-talk him?"

"Because the other times they didn't accuse him of being a murderer, of a whole clan."

That did make the rest raise their brows. Kiba's ears had picked that up from the hushed discussions around them whereas the rest had just ignored them completely, partially since they couldn't pick up much from the murmurs anyway, in favor of each others' company as they ate. However, this was unprecedented and highly disturbing an accusation, even from the Naruto haters.

"Is it true?" Came the calm, almost quiet voice of Shino, slightly startling the rest as he is usually silent. Though nearly quiet, the now dead silent mess hall allowed his voice to reach everyone's ears unhindered. "Do you really harbor the notion that Naruto of all people would be willing to, or even capable of going through with such a horrible act?"

One of the primary Naruto haters, Ami, rose and voiced her opinion. "He has already hurt me and my friends, he is constantly mysterious about his abilities and where he learned them and is a violent, self-important and egotistical little brat. It wouldn't surprise me if he was willing to do it." A chorus of agreements came from her friends. Shikamaru idly mused that had Sasuke been there, he would have refuted the accusations with just a few words. Sadly, he was given some time off to get his clan's business in order and get some general tutoring in the handling of clan business versus that of the village and the Hokage.

Shino calmly responded. "He took you and your friends out of commission in self-defense due to you ganging up on him for doing the right thing, causing no permanent harm in the process. As for his mysteriousness, I am told I, along with my clan, are very mysterious and even creepy and yet you do not hear any rumors of us performing any ill deeds. It is his right to follow his sensei's order and keep things as secret as they need to be. Mysteriousness does not always equal worthy of suspicion. Also, I find it intriguing that you apply every trait about yourself on Naruto-san when he has shown nothing of those. In fact, he has shown nothing but respect and selflessness in just about everything he does in the academy. Your arguments are flawed and illogical, Ami-san."

Shino adjusted his glasses and continued before the irate Ami could come up with a reply. "All this aside, I also find it interesting that you only mentioned his supposed willingness to perform a slaughter but nothing regarding his skill?" Shino stared right at Ami for a few moments before Ami managed to reply.

"Pfeh! You have no idea what you're talking about. Naruto-baka has no skill whatsoever to speak of and I will not budge on that, he's just arrogant enough to try the crime is what I'm saying." She said, crossing her arms, as if to solidify her argument, some hushed murmurs of agreement following that statement. Apparently, they weren't as sure of themselves when it came to Naruto's skills, since they were shown first-hand just what he could do.

"And yet you and your group were soundly defeated by Naruto-san without managing to land even one strike. Even to someone like Kiba-san here, who's speed is conditioned to be exemplary for our age, would be hard pressed to accomplish that against superior numbers." Shino responded, indicating the canine specialist.

"Heh, speak for yourself, Shino. I would've been able to do at least the same thing no problem." Kiba boasted.

"Perhaps, but that is a discussion for another time, Kiba-san. My point is, Ami-san, your claim that Naruto-san is without skill has no merit. Regardless of whether he is skillful or not, how would he be able to kill the entirety of the Uchiha clan, save for Sasuke-san, who were reputedly the strongest clan besides the Hyuuga, by himself, an academy student? It is simply impossible for Naruto to have done it in either case."

"Oh, yeah? Then how come an ANBU was sent to get Naruto-baka and his idiot sensei? It all looks pretty suspicious to me." Ami countered, earning some more agreements from her supporters.

"Troublesome girl," Shikamaru spoke in an annoyed tone. "I can imagine hundreds of reasons for his sensei to be called and a dozen of them are either required to have Naruto present or at least would be good if he was. And none of these are of any suspicious nature. For all we know, the Hokage wanted to discuss Naruto's future training regimen and place within Konoha with his sensei since the man is not from Konoha."

"And that couldn't wait until after the academy is finished for the day?" Came an unknown voice from the crowd. Again, a chorus of agreements came, much to the irritation of Naruto's friends.

"As I said, for all we know. I have no idea why, nor do I concern myself with why Naruto had to leave right now to see the Hokage. All I care about at the end of the day is that he will come back in time to keep me from being detained after class for sleeping." Shikamaru said, earning some chuckles all around.

Ami had to quietly, and begrudgingly, admit defeat at the two geniuses' reasoning. Sulking for the rest of the lunch break, she continued to ponder a way to get back at the obnoxious blonde.

As Naruto's friends sat to enjoy their meals again, Chooji spoke up, his mouth half-full of food. "You know, that's the most I've ever heard you speak at one time, Shino." He noted with a smile.

"Hey, that's right! Boy, when you do talk you know how to talk, dude." Kiba commented.

Shikamaru merely gave a lazy but still approving smirk. Shino replied with his usual monotone voice. "I only speak when necessity calls for it. In this case, Naruto's honor was at stake and I defend my friends' honor to the best of my ability when they are unable to, but I am able to."

"Yeah, well what about the other times his honor was threatened?" Kiba asked.

"Those times he was present to handle it himself. Even if he were not, those times had nothing worth wasting either his or our time defending from. This was an entirely different situation."

Nodding in agreement, the others resumed their meal. Chooji spoke his thoughts a few moments later. "I have to wonder a bit about that rumor."

The others gave him harsh glares in response, Kiba voiced their common thought. "Don't tell me you side with those retards, Chooji?" he said with a light snarl.

Chooji gulped down the food he was chewing before replying. "Are you kidding me? Of course not. But what I'm curious about is what could have made people talk that way about Naruto in the first place? I mean, I don't think these guys came up with that horrible theory on their own. It must have come from their parents and their other friends from outside the academy."

"Yeah, I have also considered that very thing, Chooji." Shikamaru said, a pondering tone in his voice.

"As have I." Shino added.

"I already know the answer." Kiba said with obvious certainty.

"You do?" Chooji queried.

"Yeah, they're all complete douche bags." Kiba stated.

Two heads face-vaulted while Shino mildly shook his head in amusement.

"That's all you came up with?" Shikamaru asked, exasperatedly.

"It's true, isn't it?" Kiba shrugged as he proceeded to eat some of his fried chicken with rice.

"That is more of a symptom than the cause of this strange phenomenon." Shino said.

"Alright, I'll bite. What do you guys have then?" Kiba inquired with half a mouthful.

"(Sigh) We don't have anything, yet. All we have to go on is a strong dislike, hate even, for Naruto that they have for some reason. His infamous pranks, while notorious, do not warrant such a level of dislike." Shikamaru said.

"There you have it. They're all douche bags to hate a guy like Naruto for no reason."

Chooji chuckled at Shikamaru's consequent groan and faceplant. "Kiba, I think what Shika meant is that there's more to it than just being idiots. We just don't know what yet."

"I intend to find out the reason." Shino stated.

"Yeah, it's more troublesome than not finding out. It would just hound me until the point where I can't ignore it anyway." Shikamaru added.

"Hey!" Kiba half-shouted indignantly, with Akamaru yipping in agreement.

"Oh, get over yourself, guys. It's a figure of speech. Not everything should be taken as a possible insult to you or your clan, or species in your case Akamaru. If I said that this mystery is bugging the hell out of me, do you think Shino would take offense?" Shikamaru responded, indicating the bug-wielder.

Shino didn't react.

"Uh, Shino? Shikamaru addressed. To which the bug-user gave a cold glare from behind the shades at the genius.

"Oh, come on! Not you too." Shika groaned while Chooji sympathetically patted his back, still munching away at his own meal. "Troublesome."

During all this, Hinata had been a witness to the whole event. She sat on a nearby dining table, next to the group's in fact. She had heard the majority of their discussion after the verbal duel between the two geniuses and the class' female bully.

_'Naruto-kun is being accused behind his back for being part of the massacre?'_ Hinata thought in shock as she heard it the first time. A moment later she grew angry at the people who seriously thought that of her precious Naruto-kun, who wouldn't hurt an innocent butterfly, much less slaughter a clan.

_'He only fights to protect his precious people.'_ She added to herself in her thoughts, recalling how skillful, not to mention fearsome, Naruto indeed was when fighting for his precious people.

While she did consider interjecting and voicing her arguments for Naruto's sake, she realized that not only would she be forced to reveal last night's event in order to accomplish that and that would go against her father's wish, not to mention against Naruto's and her's nindo, to keep their promises. Besides that, Naruto's need for keeping his skills secret would also be a reason to keep quiet, even though she did not witness anything unique she could describe in detail. As an afterthought, she also realized even if she did voice her thoughts, she would not put any weight behind her arguments, however valid, through her shy and meek mannerisms.

She decided to allow her classmates to handle Naruto's defense, since they did an admirable job of it. She had quietly cheered Shino and Shikamaru on as they argued with the pre-teen bitch. When everyone went back to their meals, she kept her ears open to the discussion on the table where the four friends were seated.

She had silently agreed with Shino's and Shikamaru's plan to discover the source of this problem and possibly do something about it if she could.

_'This could be the rumor mother was referring to last night.'_ She mused. _'I do not for a second believe Naruto-kun was in any way responsible for the massacre. Poor Naruto-kun. He has been and done nothing but good to others as long as I've known him and this is how people treat him? As Shino-kun and Shikamaru-kun said, there has to be more to it than mere spite from Naruto-kun's harmless pranks.'_

A couple of tables away, Sakura and Ino sat and were having their lunch. Like everyone else, they were witnesses to this whole spectacle. Both had their own thoughts regarding the matter.

Ino was utterly lost as to how such a dark rumor about Naruto could have risen. The boy, as Shino had said, could not have been responsible in any way for the massacre. But that was obvious to her, her problem lied with the rumor itself. _'Why make up such an outrageous lie about poor Naruto? He's done nothing to deserve that, I'd say he's done stuff to earn the opposite. Though I suppose that scuffle out in the park the other day might reflect poorly on him despite his noble intentions, especially if Ami and her accomplices lied about it which they no doubt did. I also have a hard time swallowing the prankster reputation to be behind this animosity.'_

Sakura on the other hand had slightly different thoughts. _'Hmm, I am certain Naruto wasn't behind that hideous massacre. But maybe he was some sort of accomplice to it? Most of the gossip that goes around about him do not hold him in a good light. There must be some truth to it, why else all this dislike. My mom wouldn't be so hostile about him otherwise. No, the dislike was even before that. Well, he has a reputation as a prankster extraordinaire. It could be because of that. But it couldn't escalate to such a degree to make lies about him, could it?'_

Her thoughts went round and round in circles and couldn't make heads or tails about Naruto and the events surrounding him. On the other hand, the rumors, gossip and reputations he has garnered mostly puts him in an unfavorable light while a minority of the rumors actually speak well of him. Then there were all that she's seen him act and do in the academy and the occasional passing by him on the streets. Nothing she's actually seen of him would warrant anything bad to spread. On the contrary, his actions in the park should be classed as a noble deed, but her nemesis, Ami, obviously falsified much of the details of that event if the rumors specific to that event are to go by.

_'If that lie was spread, what's there to say anything I hear is true about him?'_ She finally concluded. But that didn't help her any, really. Naruto was still a mystery to her. As she sees it, the only sure-fire way to get to the bottom of things is to get to know Naruto for herself. But her mother has strictly forbidden her to have anything to do with "that boy". Catch 22. Then again, why would she want to get to know him? She has no need to. Not when there's her studies, her freinds and Sasuke to try and impress.

Noticing that the girl across from her was seemingly deep in thought, she decided to call her on it.

"You're awfully quiet." Both actually said at once. "Yeah, well so were you." They both said at the same time, again. "I was just thinking..." They once again spoke in unison. Before anymore weird "twin-talk" occurred, they both took a deep breath to relax.

Sakura broke the silence. "You know, that whole thing has really thrown me in for a loop. I'm not sure what to think anymore." Sakura said while idly stirring her food.

Ino raised her eyebrows. "What's there to be confused about? Obviously Naruto isn't guilty of any crime, much less the massacre. Obviously Ami has twisted the facts of that bout in the park. Obviously Naruto is skilled, he proved that himself."

"I sort of came to those conclusions myself, Ino." Sakura replied, still idly stirring her food.

"Then what is the problem?"

"His reputation." Sakura said simply.

"His reputation?" Ino repeated while glancing to the side in recollection. "You mean how he's a troublemaker, a talentless nobody, someone to be avoided and someone you should not even talk about? Those rumors and reputations?"

"Yeah, something doesn't add up." Sakura said, looking straight into Ino's eyes.

"Well, duh! I could have told you that myself. Rumors and reputations don't equal facts." Ino told Sakura like she had missed the class pertaining that.

"Don't give me that bull, Ino-pig!" Sakura spat. "You and I are unofficially competing for the position of gossip queen, for crying out loud."

Ino smirked. "And I'm unofficially winning it." But then turned serious before their argument went astray. "But like any good trader, you have to inspect any goods you come across before buying it and selling it on to someone else. Those rumors regarding Naruto have clashed with the guy himself. As it turns out, I have chosen to dismiss the bad rumors about him since they don't hold water. From my observations of him, he's basically anything but what the rumors claim."

"Observations, eh? Are you interested in him or something?" Sakura accused with a smirk.

Ino was irritated at Sakura's attempt to derail the conversation. "He interests me, sure. He has since day 1. And I'm not alone. You've got to admit it, Sakura, he's an intriguing guy."

"Maybe, but even if I was _that_ interested in him I'm forbidden to find out more."

"Huh? By whom?" Ino asked.

"By the Fire Daimyo." Sakura replied sarcastically. "Who do you think has the right to forbid me from doing it? My mom, of course."

"Why would she do that?"

"Apparently she doesn't like him, or rather she hates him. I've tried asking why but she's tight lipped about it. At first I didn't really care because it wasn't my place, my problem nor in my scope of interest."

"That's very odd. What could Naruto have done that would earn him the ire of your mother? Forget your mother, what has earned him the ire of just about the entirety of Konoha if they gladly spread this nonsense about him?"

"That is where I am stuck, Ino-pig. I can't figure out what's going on."

"Well, what say you to us trying to find out?" Ino offered with a mischievous glint in here eyes.

Raising one pink brow, Sakura inquired, "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I can't just go use my Shintenshin without a valid reason so that's out, sadly. But I suspect if we try to spread good words about Naruto we might make the right people slip their reasons as they eventually will attempt to dissuade us from thinking positively about him. It's like luring out a spider by introducing an insect to its web."

"What will you spread around?"

"That he stood up to some bullies and did so for the right thing, meaning the patients of the hospital and my honor." Ino said with a pleased grin.

"Right. Your honor." Sakura mock-agreed. Ino's left brow twitched in annoyance. "I'm afraid you will have to do that on your own, Ino." Sakura sighed.

"What? Afraid of a little flak from the fan-girl club?" Ino accused, referring to the Sasuke fan-club, in an attempt to get back a bit for the earlier jab.

Sakura actually winced a little bit. The prospect of being on the receiving end of bad reputation was not very compelling. _'And Naruto deals with that everyday.'_ She briefly considered. "Actually, I'm more afraid of the flak I would get from my mother once it reaches her ears that I am speaking well of Naruto."

"Fair enough, leave the gossiping to me, the gossip queen, then." Ino said proudly.

"Like hell you are the gossip queen, pig!" An irate Sakura hissed, glaring lightning bolts at Ino.

"Wanna make something out of it, forehead?" Ino shot back, returning her ocular fire.

Elsewhere in the mess hall, three individuals were considering what they heard from the argument no one could have missed.


	30. For Services Rendered

*MDK 1 Soundtrack - An upscale Affair**

*Capcom vs SNK 1 Music - Win Display**

*Naruto OST 3 – 23 Those Who Inherit The Will of Fire**

Please note that one or more videos I suggest on Youtube might be gone by the time you read this chapter. Same goes for any other chapters' song suggestions.

* * *

Chapter 29: For Services Rendered

"So, sensei, what does jiji want with us?" Naruto asked as they were walking. He did, of course, have an idea but wanted to see if his teacher was aware already of last night's events.

"I dunno, really. Spec-ops here didn't say when he fetched me." Yokai responded.

The ANBU operative's only reaction was turning his head slightly to, presumably, give a small glare at the foreign ninja for the jab before re-affixing it straight ahead.

_'Too stiff for their own good.'_ Was Yokai's opinion. _'No sense of humor.'_

Naruto and his sensei arrived at Sarutobi's office not long after they left the academy. They were allowed in immediately as their arrival was announced.

"Hiya, jiji! Watcha need?" Naruto greeted cheerfully.

"Yeah, 'jiji', what can we do for ya?" Added Yokai with a wide grin, imitating Naruto, to the mild amusement of the Hyuuga clan head and the chagrin of Hiruzen.

"*Ahem!* Hello, Naruto-kun, Yokai-san. I asked the both of you here to go over last night's events." Sarutobi spoke professionally.

"Last night's events? What happened last night?" Yokai asked, serious.

"You weren't informed?" The Hokage said, frowning.

"Nope, Captain-Konoha over there was tight-lipped and merely fetched the both of us." Yokai said, thumb-indicating the ANBU who escorted them here. The ANBU gave no visual reaction to indicate that he was annoyed by the jab. Naruto, who was silently snickering, had no doubt that he was seething a bit. He agreed that they were too uptight.

"Well, I did not instruct my ANBU to relay the reason so he didn't do it so to not risk overstepping his bounds." Sarutobi defended his ANBU, though he had to fight the chuckle that threatened to spill out at the nickname for his operative.

"Then who did you expect to tell me?"

"Why, I expected Naruto-kun to tell you." The Sandaime replied. "After all, he was the key-person in what happened last night."

Yokai looked at Naruto who sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, and what, pray tell, happened then?" Yokai asked with a slightly terse tone and narrowed eyes. He had a sneaking suspicion that Naruto had done something rather rash, again.

"Oh, nothing much." Hiruzen replied, waving his hand as if to make light of it. "He just averted a kidnapping of the Hyuuga heiress, stopped an international incident and all without revealing himself to the enemy he fought."

*"Oh, that's alright then." Yokai said in surprising indifference. But not as surprising as his reaction a couple of seconds later when the full extent of what the Hokage had said clicked in his head.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" He rounded on his pupil, grabbed his white shirt (he has worn civilian clothing that most youths wear all the way from the second day of the academy. No need to wear shinobi gear all the time, eh?) and began to violently shake the very surprised student.

"What are you? Some sort of magnet for troubles of increasingly epic proportions?" He asked while still shaking the poor young boy. He briefly stopped to hear his response.

"Hey it's not like I'm looking for trouble, trouble seems to find me! Besides, do you expect me to stand by and do nothing while bastards like that Kumo ninja try to abduct Hinata for Kami knows what?!" Naruto retorted, with a slight slur from the minor dizziness his brain was experiencing.

Shaking Naruto even faster and rougher than before, Yokai continued his berating. "You should have called for help, like a good academy student, not engage superior enemy ninja on sight, you fool!"

"Blut oai dlidn't! Oai tlaid to pfink of phomething eltse to stop ze goai furst! Oai kodn't shee anotta wei!" Naruto responded while being shaken. He had said the following: "But I didn't! I tried to think of something else to stop the guy first! I couldn't see another way!"

After sweat-dropping at the sight and silently chuckling, Hiashi decided to rescue his daughter's rescuer.

"Yokai-san. Naruto-san did indeed fetch help during this event."

Abruptly stopping his shaking of Naruto, who had swirly eyes from the ride and was uttering nonsense, and to top it all off had a drop of drool about to escape his mouth, Yokai turned to Hiashi with a face that clearly asked for more of the story.

"He came and alerted myself to my daughter's plight and so did his part in making certain proper help was dispatched."

Hearing this, Yokai decided he should hear the entirety of the story before resuming his scolding of Naruto. He simply dropped Naruto on the floor like a sack of rice and took a seat to hear the story out.**

Of the three people in the room who had either been involved in, or heard of the crisis, only two were conscious for the beginning of the retelling. Seeing as Naruto had yet to recover from his sensei's rapid shaking, Hiashi took it upon himself to start off since he was the second person to become involved. He began with how Naruto, or Naruto's clone as he later found out, had suddenly barged into his and his wife's bedroom shouting about his daughter being kidnapped. He went on all the way to his return and his request to Naruto to keep things under wraps.

Naruto, who had come to his senses around when Hiashi had discovered Hinata, took over and told his side of the story, excluding how Kami had pretty much influenced his 'stumbling across' the criminal as well as how to proceed while pursuing the man. He also left out any details as to how he beat the man, of which he merely said:

"After I had made sure Hinata was fine, I went and kicked the guy's butt." Complete with a proud grin and a palm-punch, causing the rest to sweat-drop.

"Naruto-san, an academy student like yourself does not merely... 'kick the butt' of a foreign dignitary that has had respectable shinobi training." The Hyuuga commented.

Realizing that Naruto obviously had to, yet again, resort to his secret techniques, Yokai replied for Naruto. "Naruto's techniques are a clan secret and are not to be either discussed openly nor shown before the time of my choosing." He then gave an annoyed glance at Naruto who scratched his cheek in embarrassment while giving a nervous grin. "At least, that's the way it's 'supposed' to be."

Hiashi nodded, respecting Naruto's sensei's wishes. His curiosity wasn't helped, however, as he greatly looked forward to witnessing what Naruto could do that was enough to neutralize the duplicitous dignitary.

Clearing his throat, Hiruzen gained everyone's attention. "Now that you know the events, Yokai-san, we come to the second matter that necessitated this meeting"

"What's that, jiji?" Naruto asked with a slight tilt of his head, which Hiashi knew without a doubt his wife and Hinata would find cute and squeal 'Kawaii!'. Shaking his head to clear that amusing thought, he then spoke.

"Actually, I am the second reason for this meeting."

"You, Hyuuga-san?" Yokai asked.

"Indeed, and I wish to discuss with Naruto-san in private if you don't mind."

"Um... I don't really keep secrets from sensei, Hyuuga-san." Naruto said carefully. "Unless they are really important to keep." He then added to not worry the Hyuuga clan head regarding his promise.

Rubbing his chin in thought, Hiashi contemplated having Naruto's sensei involved in the secret reward that Naruto was about to receive. It was meant to be as secret as possible, but he supposed that his sensei was sufficiently trustworthy.

"Very well, I have no qualms with Yokai-san being present."

"I am honored you deem me worthy to stay, Hiashi-dono." Yokai spoke with a bow of respect.

Hiashi nodded back at Yokai before addressing Naruto once again. "Uzumaki-san. I wish to extend to you a reward from my clan for your bravery and exemplary actions in rescuing my daughter and in preventing a possible catastrophe befalling the village and the Hyuuga in particular." He spoke with a formal yet pleased voice.

Naruto stood a bit straighter and his face, while attempting to look professional like his sensei taught him to be in meetings and other formal situations such as this, held a look of excitement and pride. While he would usually not ask for any reward for anything he did, he also knew that denying a formally given reward like Hiashi was doing was not recommended as it could be seen as an insult. But Naruto was also a young boy, and like any his age he was ecstatic to be given rewards. Yokai had taught him that when other people want to thank Naruto, then he should accept the thanks gracefully and not be a glory hound and reward hogger as those are symptoms of 'dark pride'. When people are doing what Hiashi was doing, it is alright to accept it. After all, rewards are not wrong to receive, but doing good deeds for the rewards only are wasted deeds. However, doing good because it is the right thing is the way of honor.

"I am grateful for this honor and humbly accept your reward, Hiashi-dono." Naruto said with a deep bow, as he was taught. He then raised his head while still remaining in a bowed position, asking with a inquisitive frown, "Um... What is the reward, exactly?"

Yokai face-palmed and groaned. "Naruto... You're not supposed to ask that. It's rude and improper. We've been over this."

Hiashi merely chuckled and waved Yokai's concern off. "Do not worry, Naruto-san, Yokai-san. After all, a child needs to be inquisitive. Not to mention, my clan's reward is not a single one, but a two-part one. So it requires some elaboration."

"E-lab-o-rayshen?" Naruto, who was standing normally once again, asked.

"Explanation or clarification, Naruto." Sarutobi supplied.

"Ah." Naruto said, then gave a smirk of good humor at Hiashi. "I thought I asked you to speak in smaller words last night, Hiashi-dono."

"Baka!" Yokai slapped Naruto at the back of his head, prompting a grunt of pain from Naruto. "Speak with more respect. Especially considering you're about to receive something from said person."

Again, Hiashi chuckled. Hiruzen noted that he's never witnessed the Hyuuga clan-head display this much amusement before, which was a nice change. "That may be, Naruto-san. But do you not learn the best by being exposed to new words?"

Still rubbing the back of his head to alleviate the stinging he felt there, Naruto replied with a grin. "Yeah, I guess that's true. So, you were about to explain this two-part reward thingy?"

Yokai inwardly groaned at Naruto's conversational skills, or his slightly lacking one. But he was a fast learner and has made rather few errors or poor choices nowadays. He supposed the present situation made him more sensitive to Naruto's current lacking.

"Yes. Firstly, I wish to give to you this." Hiashi said as he produced a rather large purse of coins. "This is a total of 5000 ryo. And this is merely a down payment of a grand total of 4 million ryo, of which the remaining money will be found in your account shortly."

(A/N: Naruto is getting an amount almost equal to 500 000$, out of that he's getting about 630$ in cash.)

*Naruto was utterly flabbergasted as he heard the enormous sum of money he was getting. He snapped out of it after Yokai flicked a finger to his head.

"That's... a whole lot of money." Naruto rather lamely stated, resulting in light laughter all around. Naruto properly overcame his shock and gave a loud cheer and started dancing a childish dance that resulted in even more laughter.**

Once everyone settled down, Hiashi resumed. "Now, Naruto-san. I expect you to handle the money wisely and not spend it frivolously on just anything."

"Fre-vol-us-lee?"

"In this case, wastefully, stupidly or carelessly." Yokai supplied.

"Oh, yeah I kinda guessed that." Naruto with a serious nod. He then looked at Hiashi with a determined look. "Don't worry, Hyuuga-san, you wont see me spending it all on ramen."

"Hmph, indeed. And I will be there to enforce that." Yokai added, looking pointedly at Naruto who returned a sheepish grin. "It's your money, Naruto. But you can be sure I will, as your keeper and teacher, make certain you know how to handle money, now that a large sum has, literally, been dropped in your lap."

*"Very good. Now, as for the other part, I hereby declare that you, Uzumaki Naruto, always be welcomed into our clan compound as a friend and ally of the clan. As such, you can consider it a second home and refuge should you face overwhelming problems. And should you reach the day where you start your own clan, we of the Hyuuga clan will consider you and your clan our close allies, under the condition you always follow the ways of honor and continue growing stronger in not only prowess, but as a person. The same is applied to those of your clan, though mainly those that are leading it. After all, should one of your future descendants prove to be an unsavory character, he or she wont jeopardize clan relations as a whole, if he or she is not representing the entire clan."

Despite being as young as Naruto was at that point, he understood what this meant. He had just received the highest possible honor from the clan short of marrying the clan-head's daughter, though he wasn't old enough to even know about that particular honor.

Taking another deep bow, Naruto spoke. "Hyuuga-san. This is too much, I cannot possibly accept..."

"You can and you will." Hiashi interjected. "This is the value of your actions. My clan's honor cannot settle for less."

"I..." Naruto tried to speak. But he couldn't. Taking a deep, refreshing breath and letting it out slowly, he finally found his voice. "Very well, I humbly accept this great honor. I give you my word I wont ever give you a reason to doubt what you have done for me today. And I always keep my word, it is my way of the ninja." He declared with pure determination etched on his face, accentuated by his right fist covering his heart before taking another deep bow.

Yokai smiled fondly, Naruto knew when to truly take things seriously and be on his best behavior when it truly mattered. He felt great pride for his student, not only for that, but for his actions that led to this award. Frustrating he may be, apparently having some sort of allure for trouble, but he was aware that the best and most promising students are those that put their heart and soul into their trade.

"I have no doubt you will do as you say, Naruto-san." Hiashi replied in acknowledgement of Naruto's vow. "Now I should take my leave. My personal thanks once again, Naruto-san for rescuing my precious daughter."**

"No sweat, Hyuuga-san." Naruto replied jovially, making Yokai faceplant for his return to his cruder way of talking so soon after his exemplary performance.

Hiashi smiled in response to Naruto's words before wishing them all a good day and leaving the Hokage's office.

"Well, that was a most invigorating meeting, one I haven't had the distinct pleasure of having for a long time." The leader of the Leaf village commented.

"In-viggo-rayting?" Naruto asked, causing Yokai to chuckle a bit, even the ANBU that escorted them there had to crack an invisible smile behind his mask.


	31. Growth

*Shogun 2 The Sun Bird**

*Naruto OST Morning**

*Naruto OST Evening**

*Shenmue OST Memories of Iwao**

*Naruto OST Sasuke's Theme**

* * *

Chapter 30: Growth

*Time has passed. To be precise, it was nearing the end of the academy for the young shinobi aspirants since they are all 13 years old, bordering on 14 for some. The Hidden Leaf village continued to be prosperous under the watchful protection of its shinobi and their Hokage. To everyone's relief there had been no further incidents of any significant magnitude taking place since the Uchiha massacre, and unbeknownst to the public, the Hyuuga kidnapping.

The village's shinobi has more or less relaxed themselves somewhat since their time of strife seemed to have passed for the time being. That didn't mean they neglected their duties, they just weren't always tense nowadays.

Speaking of tension, the people of the village are still gossiping and spreading rumors regarding one of their young. The nature of their gossip is not a benign one. It has even evolved into outright hostile rumors, causing the people to feel growing tension and hostility towards the young boy they knew was named Naruto but was always referred to as the Kyuubi brat outside of the presence of their own young.

While there were still rumors of a positive nature persisting, it was sadly a minority and shrinking slowly since the more the people got hostile the more the pressure of not earning the ire of the general populace caused the more open minded to clam up, but they didn't spread bad rumors either, opting instead to take an observing stance. So far the boy had not given them cause to believe the dark gossip surrounding him. Though his pranks sometimes made them at least understand the angry citizens a bit, they found entertainment in them, especially since they were pretty much unaffected.

His pranks were in fact observed by the more knowledgeable and shrewd individuals as precise traps and surgical strikes that could only have been performed by someone at least somewhat introduced to the ninja arts.

At the most, the innocent were only affected as a secondary victim if a shop owner had to close early due to cleaning up and thus weren't able to buy their products or services. While a bit perturbed about it, they understood the boy's need to payback for this treatment.

The shinobi portion of the gossipers were largely unaffected by this pressure since they had their own, separate echelon. The ninja and kunoichi were the opposite of the people, they were instead gradually starting to come around and warm up to the blonde ninja-to-be.**

*Regarding the object of their talks, Naruto had listened to Hiashi's advice to manage his sudden boost to his account with great care, not that he really had any choice since his sensei kept a critical eye on his spending habits. Meaning Naruto did not get to enjoy a great increase in ramen consumption, well maybe a bit from time to time but only at Yokai's allowance.

Naruto had started his and Hinata's co-studies as they had agreed. At the beginning, Hinata found it a bit difficult to talk with the blonde boy whom she admired so much when they were studying the scrolls and books from class. When the blonde asked something about what they read, it took a bit of time for Hinata to find her voice and focus on the matter. Even Naruto, dense as he can be, could not help but notice her hesitation. But he took it as her carefully thinking about it, it was, after all, rather difficult subjects sometimes. The rest of the time he just chalked her demeanor up to being generally soft-spoken.

As time went by, Hinata became more outspoken and relaxed around Naruto, but only marginally so. While she was, to begin with, intimidated by the mere thought of addressing him, she now was more comfortable with having conversation with him but had yet to overcome being shy in general.

When it came to their spars, Naruto was more perceptive of her insecurities. He called her out on it and she turned red and shyly said that she didn't like thought of hurting him, or she said that she's not confident that she would be any good of a sparring partner. Both of which were true from her point of view.

Naruto, however, would have none of it. He told her that spars sometimes hurt but it was necessary. He didn't like to hurt her either, but the strength and skill gains both got from the spars more than outweighed the pain, which is only temporary. When he pointed this out to her she couldn't help but agree, but still didn't like it. To help ease her mind, Naruto said that by her occasionally hurting him she was helping him to give his opponents a harder time hurting him and at the same time help him put the hurt on them more easily, he finished his argument saying that it was why he was willing to hurt anyone he sparred with, he was helping them survive their future battles. After hearing the sound reasoning and the resolve in Naruto's voice, she repressed her apprehension as much as she could and started fighting.**

*When it came to her claim of not being a good sparring partner he instantly shot that down every time, saying that he didn't believe that she was. After a few spars he had told her that she had gotten him good a few times so there was no truth to her belief. He further argued that even if what she claimed was true, it was what they were here to improve on anyway, wasn't it?

Hinata had no more excuses she could think of, she was only left with her desire to grow and improve in her skills, not to mention her wish to impress her partner and target of her admiration. So steadily Hinata grew more confident. She also became more able to combat an opponent not versed in the art of Gentle Fist. This, eventually, had the effect of also letting her sharp mind observe some flaws and points of improvement in her spars versus her sister, her cousin and her father. Hiashi was of course very pleased to notice this change in her. But, she was far from being at the desired level and she was still shy as a mouse.

Her dislike for combat and hurting others was still an obstacle for her. She had voiced her desire to be more of a healer if anything to Naruto, which he thought was an awesome idea.

In his words; "We can't all be kick-ass ninja, some of us should be doctor ninjas."

"Y-you mean medic n-nins." Hinata corrected with a small smile.

"Yeah, those. I have no doubt you could patch anyone up from anything if you give learning medicine everything you got." He spoke confidently, foxy grin and all.

As it were, Hinata had taken his words to heart. However, she feared that her parents, or more precisely her father, would disapprove of that course of learning.

But, she had decided that she would learn in secret if she had to. She had, in her spare time, taken up a bit of herbalism, which was unsurprising since she pressed flowers as a hobby, due to the various medicines and remedies that could be made from them. Along the way she was of course introduced into the concept of poisons but abhorred their use and focused on learning the basics of how to neutralize them. Furthermore, she made certain to learn first-aid in school as much as possible.

Besides all this, she had taken a liking to cooking as another of her hobbies. Her future patients and teammates would need good food to recover faster or simply gain the necessary strength to do their duties. It only helped that she found enjoyment and peace in the process of preparing food. And she was a natural at it too, as anyone who had the distinct pleasure of trying her handiwork could attest to, mainly Naruto and her parents. Yet another use for her skill in herbalism, she could find wild, fresh spices to use in her cooking in the field. When classes pertaining field cooking and classes that detailed herbs and flora, she was the ace of the class.**

*Heisei, her mother, had observed her and mused that Hinata may not be the of the right mindset to be a fighter, but she had all the makings of a field medic. After discussing it with her husband, Hiashi and herself approached Hinata with the suggestion of pursuing the art of field medicine that Tsunade of the Sannin had successfully had the Hokage instate before she left the village.

Needless to say, Hinata was elated and showed genuine joy. Going so far as shouting out in happiness and hugging her parents, all the while wearing a wide smile, much to the delight of her parents, since she didn't display such affections as often as they would like. They could count the amount of times she has on their total amount of fingers, that was a tragic revelation.

Naruto himself was of course growing and improving, but at a much faster rate. What with his natural rate of recovery from spars and his thirst for various skills. While not a bookworm like Sakura or a few others in class were, he was above passable in necessary knowledge. Since his discovery of gaining the experiences of the new clones he could create he cleverly applied this to his studies and practices of jutsu. However, he never did this when he was studying with Hinata or when sparring with her unless she asked to try her hand against multiple opponents.

All in all, his rate of growth had increased two to three times per month depending on when he got the opportunity to use his clones.

As Yokai had feared, the teachers of the academy have tried to sabotage Naruto time and again. Though Naruto has, by Yokai's instruction, managed to avoid or thwart the majority of their attempts, such as genjutsu on test papers or scrolls. In fact, Hinata has at times while practicing her Byakugan that the scrolls and books Naruto had with him had a layer on them. Naruto said it was a form of test, although he neglected to mention it a was self-imposed test to see how soon he can discover them by himself when they try something. While Hinata seemed to accept this, she had to wonder why neither herself nor others had similar tests given to them.

But Naruto's sabotaged papers and reading materials were actually helping him along because in real life documents can be forged in this manner so the so called teachers had actually provided Naruto with further means of growth rather than stunting it.

When it came to practical stuff, like trap making, shuriken/kunai target practice and spars in the academy, Naruto continued to keep pace with the best of them. The target practices had some sabotaged shurikens and kunais that they gave Naruto but he got good training in using imbalanced weaponry if he had to, say, scavenge weapons in the field from defeated enemies, and their weapons might not always be pristine. One of his sensei's teachings was to bring victories from setbacks, something Naruto seemed to be a natural at once he understood the general concept.

Spars were not really able to be sabotaged, but the teachers tried to make sure Naruto sparred against themselves or against opponents of lesser skill. However, they soon found out that Naruto was a match with his unique, unpredictable fighting style which he proudly announced was called "Tempered Rampage". When it came to less skilled opponents, Naruto had, again, thwarted them by helping them correct their stances and provide tips on how to do certain moves. This in turn caused his opponents to, sometimes begrudgingly, improve their overall taijutsu, making them more effective and harder to defeat. Thus Naruto followed one of his teacher's other teachings; "In learning you will teach in teaching you will learn." Though these opponents were far from being able to defeat Naruto or Sasuke, who were the top taijutsu students.

His favorite subjects to study was strategies and tactics, jutsus and katas (combat stances and movements) and trap making. He was rather good with kenjutsu (fencing) and was exceptional with stealth, sabotage and subterfuge. Something he showed was also a hobby since he applied them in his pranks and practical jokes. Kunai and shuriken throwing was above average with him being better with shuriken and constantly rivaling the ace in this field, which was Sasuke. Sasuke was however generally better with the kunai.**

*Speaking of Sasuke. He returned, much to the delight of his fan-girls and his friends, a week after the Hyuuga incident. He had undergone heavy instruction on the inter-clan dealings and clan-versus-Hokage interactions and studying his own clan's ways when not practicing with the previous parties.

He was still aloof and more distant and brooding than usual, only rarely did he speak and was nowadays a boy of few words. Naruto had tried to joke that he's had too many dealings with the Aburame clan, only to receive a stare from Shino that instead made him uncomfortable.

But in truth, Naruto was concerned for his friend and had tried on multiple occasions to lighten him up and be more open. He had limited success, with Sasuke only speaking marginally more with Naruto than anyone else. Their own spars had diminished in frequency, but had increased in intensity instead. Naruto had difficulty deciding if he should like it or be worried about it.

Naruto had approached Sasuke, after some time had passed, regarding their previously discussed plan to subtly suggest to the fan-girls to apply themselves more in their training. He had by then come to understand the new Sasuke language consisting of grunts and subtle facial movements, and understood Sasuke's 'hn' to be one of his more affirmative responses.

In short, the plan had gone off without a hitch. Naruto had once during a lunch break, in which he and his friends had actually stayed at the school's mess hall to eat, made sure to seat himself at a table next to where the majority of Sasuke's club were seated, including Sakura and Ino (who sat there more because Sakura was there than in the capacity of a Sasuke-fan even though she hasn't decided to leave the club). Then while eating Naruto had started to talk about what the guys would like in a girl when they decide to start looking.**

Shikamaru had started off immediately stating that girls were a colossal drag and he couldn't be bothered pursuing anyone, which actually caused the nearby girls to quietly fume a little even though no one had any interest in the guy. Impressed with his intellect, yes, but not interested.

Chouji had said he hadn't thought about it, but he supposed being a good cook was a good requirement as any. 'No surprise there' was the unified thought of all who heard.

Kiba had said he wanted a fiery girl who appreciated dogs, a good time and was a strong kunoichi if she happened to be one. Again, no one was surprised but also thought those were decent traits in a girl to want.

Shino had expressed that he wanted a girl who at least wasn't creeped out by bugs, but preferably actually had an interest in them. He said he would perhaps look for a girl eventually among the civilian populace within the scientific community. More precisely in the field of Entomology.

Now this was a predictable and at the same time interesting answer, most thought. He understood the unique position he was in but had already found a feasible solution to his problem. It was widely known that the Aburame clan had close ties with the community of Entomology that was researching the life of various insects. It was the general belief that most spouses within the Aburame clan came from this community. Shino, it would seem, was going to continue this unspoken tradition.

"What about you, Sasuke?" Naruto asked his friend. Of course, once this question was asked the entirety of the fan club next to them were all ears. Once they were aware of the topic of discussion, they had all anticipated this moment.

As if he was deliberately making a dramatic pause, 'Which he probably is, the broody bastard. Hmph.' Naruto thought with a mental pout, Sasuke glanced a bit at all the guys at the table (his back was toward the girls). He finally answered, making sure that the girls heard him without coming off as louder than necessary.

"Hn. I will only like a girl if she is a kunoichi. But not just any kunoichi. She has to be strong, skilled, effective in the field and dependable in any conceivable situation to have my back."

This made the girls nearby go wide-eyed. Had they applied themselves wrong all along in their pursuit of Sasuke's attention?

"But what about looks? Surely you want someone that's pretty?" Kiba added in before Naruto had the chance to say it, causing Naruto to inwardly smirk at how well this was going.

Again the girls were 150% attentive.

"Looks are not important, but sure I like looking at nice looking girls as much as the next guy. However in my opinion, a kunoichi who is serious about her career is very rarely ugly, if ever. So I'm almost guaranteed to find a good looking girl if I find one with the criteria I named before."

'Perfect response.' Naruto thought with a smirk that only Sasuke noticed and returned ever so slightly. He then began to surreptitiously observe the girls behind Sasuke while they continued talking.

As he had hoped, the girls seemed to whisper frantically among themselves. His sensitive hearing picked up their heated discussion of how they were going to refocus their efforts in being the best kunoichi they can be. As he predicted, the discussion very soon evolved into one of challenges and glaring at one another.

'Girls. I don't understand them. One minute they're like sisters, the next they are the bitterest of rivals while still being somehow close.' Naruto thought, ironically and hypocritically forgetting what his and Sasuke's friendship is like, not to mention his and Kiba's occasional contests.

"What about you then, Naruto?" Came the question, this time from Chouji.

"Huh?"

"What do you like in a girl?"

Naruto blinked. How could he have forgotten to take this into account?! Of course a discussion such as this would involve him too. As such he was now cornered and he had not thought about it himself.

Unnoticed by all the guys, the girls were actually listening closely to what Naruto was about to say too.

"Er... I..." Naruto began while rubbing the back of his head nervously. "I haven't thought about it?"

Everyone face-vaulted, including the girls.

"What? Are you kidding me?!" Kiba nearly shouted, his face showing his mild shock and slight frustration. "How can you start such a conversation and not have an answer yourself?"

Sasuke chose this golden opportunity to tease his friend a bit. "Perhaps the dobe needed inspiration since he has no preferences of his own." He proposed with an amused smirk.

Growling in indignation, Naruto gave the expected retort. "For your information, teme, I do have my own preferences." He stated, glaring at the adolescent clan-head.

"Well? We're waiting." Sasuke said while taking a bit of his food.

Naruto was about to reply when the bell rang, indicating that the lunch break was over. Causing the girls to quietly groan in frustration, this went unnoticed since the bell hid it. The guys were also disappointed since they were quite curious about Naruto's preferences.

While they were disposing of their cutlery and leftovers, the guys spoke to Naruto. "This isn't over, Naruto, you still have to tell us." Kiba said.

"Yeah, it's only fair since we told you." Shikamaru said.

"Look who's talking, you only said they were a drag. I don't qualify that was an informative answer. You basically said you wouldn't be after any girls as it is. That's not the same as not having preferences. That's just saying you haven't found one you like yet." Naruto retorted with a sly grin.

"'Sigh' You are so troublesome sometimes, Naruto." Shikamaru commented, but said nothing further since Naruto was essentially correct.

"Still, Shikamaru's lack of knowledge about what he prefers in a girl is no basis to evade answering our query." Shino pressed, with Shikamaru eying him lazily yet with a hint of annoyance.

"I will, alright? But for now we're gonna be late if we don't hurry." Naruto replied with a grin as he sped down the hall towards their classroom.

"Hey! Get back here and answer us already, dammit!" Kiba shouted as he gave chase with Akamaru happily running after with excited barks.

Unknown to everyone, Hinata had been at another table close by and had listened intently as well when the subject of preferences for girls came up. She knew that Naruto inevitably would have to tell his own. However, she was disappointed when Naruto had no answer to give at that moment. When it seemed he was baited to answer, the blasted bell had to ring. Still, she kept within hearing distance to catch anything Naruto might say on the way. Again she was disappointed when Naruto kept evading the question.

All of a sudden she was surrounded by the group of fan-girls that were ignorant of Naruto's plan for their betterment.

"Hey, Hinata." One greeted.

"You've been working with Naruto. What can you tell about his preferences in girls?" Another immediately demanded.

"Uh..." Hinata uttered in shock.

"Come on, tell us. Give us all the details." Yet another one pressed.

"I... h-have no i-idea." Hinata stuttered, obviously nervous from the attention.

"Oh come on. We know you've been study-partners for a long time now. You gotta know something!"

"Um... that is... Naruto-kun..." She tried in vain to form a response.

"Unless you already have snagged him and don't want to tell what he likes to your competition?" Someone from the crowd accused, which caused the rest to lean closer to Hinata, some with a face screaming "Gossip Material!" while others had frowns as if saying "You'd better not have you little wench". All of them made a "Hmm?" in a way that left no doubt as to the meaning; "Weeelll?"

Poor Hinata sputtered and turned so red in the face the girls were afraid her head would suddenly burst, before the inevitable happened. She fainted.

"Aww. She fainted." One complained.

"Maybe this means Naruto is still on the market?" Someone else theorized.

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, if she had grabbed Naruto, she would have defended her boy. But since she fainted, she must not have, yet. But we all know it's only a matter of time before she makes her move, or Naruto does."

"Oh, the little... she's not going to win, I'll do all that I can to gain Naruto-kun's attention."

"How?"

"Huh?"

"How? We don't even know what he prefers yet:"

That one fact had the entire group run down the hall to catch up to Naruto and hope to catch any clue to his likes.

Once the dust settled, Ino and Sakura approached Hinata's prone form.

"Geez, even I can tell that Naruto is a guy who likes people who are at least considerate. To leave poor Hinata just lying here just goes to show they have no chance as it stands." Ino said with distaste but also with a hint of smugness.

"Before you start bragging about your selfless nature, perhaps we should help Hinata wake up first?" Sakura spoke as she tried to wake Hinata by gently tapping her cheek.

"Oi, Hinata-san. Wakey-wakey." Ino called in a sing-song voice.

"Something more concrete than that, please." Sakura said, annoyed.

"Well, you're hitting her face, how's that better?" Ino accused.

"I'm not 'hitting her'! I'm gently tapping her to get some form of reaction." Sakura replied indignantly.

"Ano..." Came Hinata's voice. "Why are you arguing?"

The two bickering girls turned to Hinata who was still prone on her back but very much conscious and confused.

"See?" Sakura smugly said, indicating Hinata with a gesture.

"Hmph." Ino huffed and crossed her arms childishly and pouted.

"Ano... what happened?"

"Oh, nothing much. You just had a dizzy spell from the army of girls invading your personal space." Ino informed.

"Oh." Hinata replied simply. "Arigatou... for waking me."

"Don't mention it." Sakura replied happily. "Let's get to class."

"Hai."

To the disappointment of both Naruto's friends and the curious horde of girls, Naruto remained tight-lipped about his preferences, always blaming that he can't talk in class, contradicting the fact that he is regularly walking the fence between being discovered or remaining unnoticed by the teacher doing precisely that, or that he had somewhere to be when they were finished for the day, which was more plausible since he usually goes to train with his sensei or goes to study and/or spar with Hinata.

It was nonetheless infuriating for everyone involved as they got more curious the longer Naruto failed to satisfy said curiosity.

This event has further frustration for Ino and Sakura, who had spent the majority of the time since that day they had decided to attempt to find out through the grapevine just what made people hate Naruto and go so far as to spread those hateful rumors about him. Why? Because their success was negligible. In fact, they had only succeeded in raising more questions within themselves. The gossipers were less than forthcoming with their reasons. The most they got was the occasional slandering and name calling like 'demon' and 'monster'. When asked why, they were surprised to see these people suddenly back away and with clear hesitation and apprehension say that they are not to say more on the subject.

So, for some reason the people either seem to think Naruto was some sort of demon or monster, or are just calling him such because of pranks it would seem. But neither option had any ring of sense to them. Monsters don't act the way Naruto does. And when Naruto pranks, it is no more than the next creative child with a mischievous streak, though Naruto's pranks tend to become more ingenious the further along his ninja training comes, which is why there is little doubt it was him behind those particular pranks.

And now, all of a sudden, Naruto is acting all mysterious regarding himself beside the techniques he's not supposed to tell or show others. Naruto was truly an enigma, a conundrum and a mystery and a half. So here they were, frustrated about the boy, and he wasn't even at fault.

Sadly, they had to severely reduce their attempts at finding out or they risked catching the attention of the public, which they have noticed started to become even more hostile, even towards neutral or individuals showing some favor towards the boy. If they were not careful they could possibly be seen as potential targets for bullying. That thought alone made them feel many things at once.

Disappointment in their village for sinking so low. Anger at the injustice. Sadness for Naruto who has to endure this daily and finally confusion as to what to do.

Shikamaru and Shino, the self-proclaimed detectives of the case among Naruto's male friends, had done their own digging. Shino had at first attempted to find information about Naruto from his clan, but had hit a brick wall when his parents had gone silent, even for Aburame, at his inquiry. When he further prodded the issue, they told him to allow the matter to drop and seek other ways to find what he seeks.

This reply intrigued him. They wouldn't answer him, but they weren't forbidding him to find out from some other source. Shino's observant mind quickly came to the conclusion that his parents and therefore the rest of the clan were prohibited from disclosing any information regarding his blonde classmate. But why that was, that was the mystery.

Shikamaru had had a similar result in his initial digging into the case. His parents were strangely unified in their response to his questions, usually his mother would be bossy and, in his opinion, tyrannical in her ways of raising himself, or in... motivating her husband into doing chores and whatnot. His father, on the other hand was as lazy as his son, content with relaxing and watching clouds all day or tending to their deer herd. For some reason this was never troublesome or a drag for him.

Anyway, for them to be so completely unified in their response was troubling. Not because them actually agreeing on anything was bad, but the way they agreed and what about. They both looked at each other briefly and then back at him. His father then calmly but seriously advised him to not speak anymore about this with anyone nor bring this subject up again. When asked why, they said it's way too troublesome to even get into. Okay, his own mother actually using the word 'troublesome' was worrying. He was certain his father suspected, or even knew, that his interest was awakened even more with the way they handled his questioning.

Hence it came as no real surprise when Shikaku had taken his son aside and spoke to him in a troublesomely serious tone.

"Son, why this sudden interest in the boy?"

"Because there has been too many contradicting stuff about him that it would be a drag on my mind to ignore it any longer."

"What do you mean?"

"For example, he has shown nothing but being a good student and a fun and dependable friend, yet people speak of him like he's the incarnation of cancer."

"I see." Shikaku replied solemnly. "Son, I cannot help you here. All I can advise you is to find out what you can and, while keeping an open mind, form as informed an opinion as you can."

Shikamaru eyed his father in a lazy yet analyzing look.

"You speak as if you are not allowed to even speak about him, dad. What's going on?"

"Like I said son, I cannot help you. Seek your answers elsewhere."

"Are you going to forbid me from hanging out with him?" Shikamaru asked with a slightly terse tone. He was somewhat irked since he started to suspect his parents were leaning towards siding with the slandering villagers, that thought didn't sit well with him at all.

"Are you having second thoughts about doing so?"

"Why are you evading my question?" Shikamaru prodded further while narrowing his eyes.

"Answer me first, son." Shikaku stated firmly.

"No, I don't. Personally I have no reason to avoid him or believe anything I've heard about him that's bad."

Shikaku actually gave a half-smirk, half-smile, indicating he liked his son's reply. "Then I am not forbidding you anything. I have faith in your ability to decide on your own what's best."

While inwardly pleased with his father's words, Shikamaru pushed a bit further. "Again, you speak as if Naruto was a dangerous subject. What about the guy makes everyone walk on eggshells around him and look at him like he's..."

Shikaku groaned and rubbed his temples. "Troublesome. I told you to let the matter drop, Shikamaru. Be content that I don't hinder your friendship with young Uzumaki."

Frowning, Shikamaru nodded, dropping the subject. But he was not about to let it go that easily. He had other venues to explore.

Which is why he and Shino had agreed to meet occasionally and pool their findings, if any.

But their successes have been extremely limited. It would appear that any concrete leads would have to come from the blonde kid himself, and he was as secretive and reserved about himself as the public was. Catch 22. It irked the two to no end.

Kiba and Chouji had opted to ignore all the idiots and just enjoy their time with their academy buddy.

Sasuke had very little attention, none actually, directed at gossipers and thus haven't heard anything and no one of his friends bothered to tell him since the worst rumor has died down before his return. Therefore he has not shut down any rumors regarding Naruto being in any shape or form responsible for the Uchiha Massacre. As far as he was concerned, Naruto was a friend and a rather good one at that, though he never would admit that aloud.

Little did anyone know that part of the rumor said to keep this from the Uchiha and not speak of it near him, with the official reason to not further upset him by reminding him of that night's dreadful events.

Sasuke visited his mother in the hospital when he could, sometimes accompanied by Naruto, who has never forgotten her plight himself. Every time he silently vowed to find someone who can save her.

Yokai had taken to the occasional trip to his village-in-the-making to oversee the process, since Naruto was mostly busy with his study partner, Hinata. Not to mention he had nothing further to teach for the time being, making Naruto rely on his own power and potential to improve, which Naruto took as a challenge.

It had nothing to do with the fact he had several women keeping their eyes on him like a hawk for various reasons. Nope, none at all.

Naruto himself had other troubles. He still couldn't do a proper bunshin, just his Kage Bunshin. He's learned from his sensei that because of his larger reserves he has greater trouble of focusing minute amounts. He was confident that he would pass with the Kage Bunshin but Naruto wasn't so sure.

And graduation day was around the corner.


	32. Obstacles, Jutsus and Then

*Naruto OST Confrontment*

*Command & Conquer - Drill**

*Shenmue Music: Sparring with Fukuhara**

*Red Alert 2 OST Eagle Hunter**

*Ghost recon: advanced warfighter - Let's do this**

* * *

Chapter 31: Obstacles, Jutsus and Then...

The day finally came for the academy student's graduation. There was not a one who weren't hyped and excited and determined to ace their exam.

For one student, he was not just hyped and excited, he was also worried. Naruto has tried again and again to master the basic bunshin, but to no avail. They still came out as pale, sickly and useless. His sensei had suggested that he produce an army of the things and the results were better. However, it was not something that would really impress the evaluators.

To them it would be the equivalent of trying to sew clothes by using a katana. He needed to reduce the amount of necessary bunshins for a successful jutsu if he wanted to be approved as a ninja capable of finely tuned control.

His sensei was confident that if he used the Kage Bunshin as a replacement for the regular one he would actually ace the tests since it is an upgraded version in all aspects save for its taxing trait.

Of course, Naruto knew that he was trying to cheer him up and keep his spirits up. But Naruto, with all his life experiences so far, knew better than to rely on the supposed unbiased opinions of the evaluators, who happen to also be the academy teachers.

Despite his depressive hunch, Naruto resolved himself to do everything he could. No sense giving in, not even an inch, before the fight is truly over.

Now, they all sat in the classroom as they would usually do for just another day at class. Iruka had just entered the classroom and had a look of sincere pride as he gazed at his soon to be ex-studends.

"Good morning, class!" He greeted.

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei!" Everyone returned, with Shikamaru managing to actually respond in his sleep before Chouji decided to wake him up since things were going to start off.

Deciding to completely ignore his antics for once, Iruka proceeded to tell the class about what will happen today in more detail.

"You have, each and everyone of you, done well in your studies and your training these years we've had in the academy. I am immensely proud of all of you." He began with a wide grin. The class smiled and whispered excitedly.

"Now is the time for your exam to see if you have what it takes to become Genin of Konohagakure. We will start off with running an obstacle course, during which you have to keep an eye out for traps and dummy targets to throw your shuriken or kunai at. You will be graded here based on your ability to evade said traps, with deduction of your score if you get hit by a trap, caught by a trap, or merely set one off, if you miss your targets or fail to reach any obstacle's end before completing it properly. You'll see what I mean later."

"Where is this obstacle course, sensei?" A random student asked.

"The obstacle course has been set up yesterday in a training ground normally used for newly formed Genin teams. Training ground five I believe."

"What sort of traps will the obstacle course have?" Asked another student.

"I wont tell that, but I can tell you they are less than lethal." Iruka replied. Many students gulped. They knew that less than lethal didn't necessarily mean not painful. "Sometimes a ninja gets a general idea of what sort of traps to expect prior to entering enemy territory. But more often than not, you need to enter enemy controlled grounds knowing there are traps, just not where or what types. This is merely a taste of what is to come. If you apply all that you have learned into clearing this course, you should come out of it just fine."

"Is that all for this exam, sensei?"

"Hardly, Satsuma. After you clear the obstacle course, you are to immediately head back here, regardless of your results and without waiting for your classmates. We will time you on your speed and endurance, with a one point deduction per minute, so get here with all due haste to earn as much points as possible. Then you will enter this classroom to be tested on a series of ninjutsu."

"What jutsu are they?"

"You will find out soon enough, Sagara."

"Will we have a taijutsu test too, sensei?" Kiba asked.

"It has been decided that since this class has had an above average skill in taijutsu all around for more than half the time from the point where we began teaching it, we will skip that part. Any further questions?"

None had anything further to ask.

"Then all of you head for training ground five, double time!" Iruka ordered which all obeyed as one.

Everyone arrived just about at the same time. *When they beheld the course, they were awed and scared at the same time. It was a five part course with the first section consisting of a classic obstacle course material. A wooden, narrow bridge with constantly swaying bags that will knock you off if you get hit, but the kicker came when they noticed that they didn't swing in a steady pace, they occasionally sped up and slowed down depending on the bag. Meaning you needed to not only time the individual bag right, but also the occasional increase in speed to not get caught by surprise.

Also, they knew that there were targets to hit that popped up from time to time, they just couldn't tell where. No falling off, of course, or one gets point deduction and will have to restart. Only comfort was that one actually didn't need to hit all the targets, just actually make an attempt at the very least and you are cleared to pass, provided one didn't fall off. Point deduction for missing was an incentive to not get sloppy, however.

The second section was more dangerous. Here they had to cross a series of rather thin metal rods that were stuck horizontally to poles placed around a field. All the while dummies were standing at the sides with what looked like tubes. Iruka explained that those were practice-senbon launchers ready to shoot at those that attempted to cross the area, furthermore, you were prohibited to step on the ground. Meaning you had to use the rods to hop across the field, just like when traveling on the tree branches, just thinner to increase the challenge.

If one does touch the ground, they had to restart that section with a considerable deduction in points. However, if those who were crossing managed to take out the dummies while still evading the senbon, they had to worry about one launcher less each hit, with a bonus to one's points for each kill. The thing was the dummies were placed strategically so that one had to enter the field, in other words enter the danger zone, in order to get a bead on the dummies. Each senbon that hit the attempting student was to be counted as -1, so getting hit wasn't too bad as long as you didn't get hit a lot, but still best avoided altogether.

The third section was a medium sized labyrinth that had thin cloth for walls, simulating an unknown structure to infiltrate. The objective of this section is to make it safely to the other side of the labyrinth without being detected by the alarm seals and to take out dummies of opportunity for a hefty point increase, without approaching from their 'front' or it will trigger an alert seal located on their 'faces'. Iruka cautioned them, however. These dummies 'patrol' using simple rails with a pulling mechanism. The mechanism itself is forbidden to damage. Iruka further mentioned that it takes the 'vision' seal of the dummies a brief moment to activate so there is an extremely small window of opportunity to 'kill' them with any weapon of choice should the aspirant find him or herself in a surprised situation.

A bonus is given if one manages to clear this stage without fail, but no additional points would be awarded if one had failed once.

The fourth consisted of one sole dummy located at the other end of a field. In this section you had to approach the dummy and 'assassinate' it without making too much noise. And the closer one gets the less noise you are allowed to make. Should you be heard, the dummy will turn around and spot you, forcing you to restart with a deduction of points. The problem on this field was that it was riddled with various traps and noisy objects, like glass shards, gravel and even a section with a nightingale floor which gave off a chirping noise when stepped on. Furthermore, the dummy occasionally turns around, if you are within its line of sight you are detected. Fortunately there were large enough objects to hide behind if one is fast and silent enough.

Before anyone could get their hopes up, Iruka declared that shuriken and other ranged weaponry were not allowed as this is a pure contact-kill. Of course the kunai can be used as long as it isn't thrown.

Finally the fifth and final section had a dummy right at the beginning, but Iruka told them that this is not a kill target, this is a simulated VIP or wounded ally. The objective was to cross the section while carrying the VID, or "very important dummy" (snickers all around), to the other end without losing balance, dropping the VID or allowing the timer to reach zero, with the total time of one minute from section start. The real challenge lied within the fact that the dummy occasionally would shift its weight, due to another seal, to simulate fear, spasms or otherwise uncooperative VIP's. It didn't stop there. Once again there were senbon launchers on the side as well as dummies carrying weapons that will begin a 'pursuit' after a few seconds.

Needless to say, getting hit, the VIP getting hit or allowing the chasers to catch up were not good ideas for your points. Although getting hit yourself is only worth -1 per hit. While it is bad to get hit while guarding someone else, if it is to protect said individual from harm, it is preferable than the objective. The VID getting hit was worth -3 per hit. Getting caught up worth -10 and dropping the VID or losing balance and falling was the same as getting caught. But you could still make it if you managed to get going again before getting caught. Only by getting caught or the timer running out did you have to restart. Should one make it on the first attempt, the score would be 20, the worth reduced by 5 each time you had to start over.**

"Once all this is accomplished, you will make a run for the academy to finish your evaluation by performing some jutsus. Remember that the total points for this part of the examination are what's being deducted as you run for the academy. You need to have at least a total of 100 points to pass this part or you will not even need to perform jutsu later on." Iruka finished. "Oh, and one more thing. To keep things relatively flowing, we're going to have the next student start immediately after the previous one finishes the section he or she was in. Additionally, those of you with ocular powers are not allowed to use them."

Hinata was naturally surprised and dismayed. Sasuke, while not having the Sharingan yet was perplexed and somewhat insulted, seeing this as possibly something akin to discrimination.

"What?! Why shouldn't we be allowed to? Aren't we supposed to use whatever means necessary to accomplish our tasks?" He demanded angrily.

"Calm down, Sasuke. The reason is to instill into you the concept of strength in the basics." Iruka replied calmly.

"Strength in the basics?"

"Yes. Many ninjas have fallen to the false sense of security their powers have allowed them. Yet when they are, in one way or another, stripped of those powers, either in the middle of a conflict or a sensitive situation during a mission, they find themselves weaker than they need to be because they hadn't kept up with their basic skills. Take for instance your ocular jutsu, if you use them extensively, you may become very skilled and difficult to defeat. But once the enemy finds a way to circumvent your advantage, what then? That's where this lesson comes in.

If you are able to fight or act effectively without your advanced eyes, you stand a greater chance of surviving your sudden handicap, not to mention completing the mission you happen to be on at that time. The enemy is just as aware of this danger as we are, but they expect you to not be able to handle such a sudden change since so many others don't. Imagine their surprise if you can still keep them on their toes, this surprise might even be enough to overcome them, giving you enough time to possibly recover.

Besides, ocular powers are considered jutsu, which isn't what this test is about, that comes later, remember?"

"Hn, whatever. I'll ace this course, just as if I had my Sharingan unlocked." Sasuke boasted cooly, causing his fan-girls to swoon and proclaim Sasuke the coolest one there was.

Hinata was fidgeting and rubbing her index fingers together in a clear sign of nervousness. Naruto approached her and confidently clasped her furthest shoulder before encouraging her.

"You got this in the bag, Hinata. I know it." He spoke firmly but full of confidence, as always sporting that bright grin of his.

"A-ano... I'm not allowed to..."

"That's nothing!" He exclaimed and made a gesture of dismissal. "We both know how agile and flexible you are, not to mention your reflexes are top notch. You got me good in our spars without using your Byakugan, remember? And I'm one of the fastest students, if not the fastest."

"In your dreams, Naruto!" Hollered Kiba, a small distance from them.

Ignoring Kiba, to his chagrin, Naruto went on. "There's not a single trap out there that can get you as long as you stay focused."

Hinata visibly perked up at Naruto confident words. Taking a deep breath, she relaxed her nerves. 'Naruto-kun's right, I mustn't let my nerves get in the way, nor let a setback keep me down. Watch me, Naruto-kun. I will clear this course!' She thought, her eyes having a barely detectable, dangerous gleam to them as she regarded the course before her. Naruto noticed and grinned even wider, pleased to see her facing this challenge head-on.

Other students were having various thoughts varying from intimidated to excited. As it were, none were willing to back down. Too much was at stake, too much time and energy spent to get to this point to back out now.

The students were taken someplace where they were unable to witness those who were attempting the course, this was to make sure that the following students didn't take advantage of the failures their predecessors made and learn from them merely by watching. Normally one would think that would be a ninja trait to do but in this case the practice was that the Genin exams was purely made to observe their basic skills to determine if they even should be ninja. Advanced stuff like sharper observation and taking advantage of just about anything will be further taught later with their eventual sensei.

As it were, Naruto was the last to get his chance since they were going through the students in alphabetical order and with his name being Uzumaki, it was rather obvious he would be the last one since there weren't many names that began with the remaining letters of the alphabet.

When finally given the signal, Naruto jogged forward to the first obstacle.

Before properly starting the course, Naruto stood at its entrance and observed the bags. He knew that there was no actual time limit in this particular section so he could take his time to get the timing of the bags as best he could. The bags had no space in between them so there were no gaps to catch any breath. It had to all be done in one go or he would lose points.

From where he stood, he couldn't see the targets he was supposed to hit. It would seem that he needed to learn the timing by heart and then trust in his instincts as he went and have half a mind on the targets.

For a while, he just stood there and looked at the bags. Iruka watched Naruto carefully and was pleased to see that Naruto had already begun to show what is needed for a Genin worth his rank. Many students had made the mistake of assuming they were pressed for time and threw themselves into it almost as soon as they were called, needless to say more than a few didn't even get past the first two or three bags on their first attempts, there were a total of twenty bags to get past. A few never made it past at all and thus, sadly, were sent home with the small consolation that there was always next year.

*Finally Naruto dashed forward and evaded the bags. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed the targets. He had absolutely no time to actually look and ascertain their exact position. Any brief stop outside his ingrained plan would cost him, so he produced a handful of shuriken and threw them as he went. Not even bothering to worry if he hit or not, he opted to keep moving and get across to begin the next section. There were a few close calls as the bags, as predicted, increased in speed and Naruto was almost caught by surprise as he had gotten the timing slightly off but managed to correct his movements in time.

The next section was even harder. As before, he could take his time and memorize where the rods and poles were positioned. Once he got that down, he began his trek across the simulated trees. The fact the rods were smaller and thinner than the branches of the trees surrounding Konoha was to simulate that foreign trees sometimes had a smaller build and you had to compensate for that. Naruto, being well traveled was actually more accustomed to this. However, he has never had to avoid this amount of projectiles while in the air at any point in his training. By comparison, Chunin and Jounin could avoid this amount of projectiles without much worry, but Naruto was a Genin aspirant so he had a tougher time of it naturally.

Like Iruka had informed them earlier, Naruto could spot the dummies with those infuriating launchers. With his experience at traveling among the treetops, he could have an easier time focusing part of his mind on aiming and throwing his weapons on the targets, but the necessity for avoiding the launched missiles took up much of his focus. Still, he managed to take down several dummies and noticed that things got easier as he went. Deciding not to worry about the amount of kills he scored, he proceeded to the next stage while patting himself on the back for only getting hit himself a total of four times.**

As he was approaching the cloth labyrinth, he idly mused that since stealth and secrecy was one of his top subjects in class, this ought to be relatively simple, especially considering he was a tough perpetrator to catch for the ninja hunting him when he had pranked someone. While he was great in speed, he was just as good, if not better, in concealment and sneaking.

He obviously left out any of his secret jutsu for this part for the reason that they were jutsu and would be considered cheating in regards for the purpose of this test. That didn't matter, he was gonna be like his favored self-claimed nickname or codename; a Ghost Stalker.

*He entered the labyrinth and sneaked silently along its corridors. He noticed that he could make out shadows along certain walls, letting him know that there were dummies on the other side of the wall. He recalled that Iruka had never said anything about not cutting through the walls in order to get at the dummies. Carefully examining the wall closest to him that had a shadow, he quickly made certain that there was no alert seal placed upon it before taking a kunai and making a small cut in the fabric and peered through it. He saw that this dummy was facing towards Naruto's left and wasn't looking in his direction. Made sense since guards normally don't watch walls. Even though penetrative walls ought to be kept an eye on, guards rarely did.

'Textbook.' Naruto thought with glee as he made the motions of clamping the dummy's 'mouth' and slitting its throat, eliminating it from the equation and earning him a sum of 8 points.

Naruto briefly considered hunting down all the 'guards' in the place to earn more points, but shut that plan down since he learned from Yokai-sensei that one never should push one's luck, no matter how easy something seems to do. Targets of opportunity should be taken out, but one should never seek opportunities on a mission, that's foolhardy. Instead he removed the dummy from the stick that held it up and carefully placed it someplace dark and wouldn't be investigated by guards initially.

Iruka, who had been observing Naruto ever since he called for him, was very impressed by him. He never stated that one could or couldn't tear through the walls nor that they had to hide the bodies after dispatching the dummies. It was a hidden test to see how well the students adapted and thought on their own. He made two notes of commendation for Naruto's performance, which basically equaled ten extra points per commendation.

Naruto continued to make his way towards the exit of the labyrinth, along the way he came across another guard dummy that passed him by in front of him in a T-cross. He crept up behind it and in short order made the kill, but was taken by surprise by another guard appearing in front of him when he was about to hide the body. Reacting quickly, he picked up a shuriken and, faster than a regular person could follow, threw it right into the throat of the dummy with only two tenths of a second to spare before the alarm would have went off.

'Phew, close one.' Naruto thought to himself. Iruka was both relieved and impressed by Naruto's quick reaction. Another commendation for being able to react fast in the face of imminent danger. Though he had to also make a demerit for unnecessarily endangering his 'mission' integrity by trying to take down a guard in a long corridor that had an elevated risk of discovery by passing guards. A demerit was the equal of a commendation in points, only in the negative.

Naruto once again hid the bodies with haste as to not alert other guard dummies from detecting slain 'kin'. He didn't know if they were actually set to react to the 'dead' dummies but chose to act as in real life regardless.

Finally, Naruto made it to the end without stepping on any alarm seals or passing by one. He had kept a sharp lookout for any on the ground or the walls and avoided passing by them directly, crouching under them when on the walls, and stepping over them when on the floor. Those simulated cameras and trip wires and the like.**

Now came a challenging part. While it didn't exactly simulate any one real situation based on the section's composition of obstacles, it still contained existing elements encountered sometimes in the field.

Here and there, there were barrels and boxes and other objects of similar size that one could hide inside or behind depending on the need. Around them and covering almost the entirety of the ground, were the previously mentioned noisy materials and traps. Naruto surmised that there was no way to actually avoid stepping on them, but there was a way to avoid making too much noise.

*He began with heading straight for the closest cover. Once there he took his time to get the timing of the objective's turns. He noticed with horror that it was completely irregular, with the exception of never actually turning within a thirty second time frame. Meaning he had half a minute to work with regardless of its actual turning point. Deciding to not risk actually crossing 31 seconds at any time, he made his plans accordingly.

He observed that the covers were awfully distant from one another when taking into the time frame he had to work with. Which meant he would have to get to each using some speed. However, when using speed one sacrifices stealth in most cases. This was definitely one of those cases.

The way he saw it, he had two options. One; he could either try to remove traps and noisy debris from the ground in regular intervals and then run back and hide while the dummy turns. The problem with that was it would be time consuming. And while this section did, once again, not have a time limit, the more time one spends in any area with an enemy, the greater the risk of being discovered.

Two; he could simply try to tread softly and minimize the sound generated from his footfalls. But he knew that even though that would work for now, later on when he came closer to the victim, the greater the risk would be of the seals located on either side if the dummy's head catching any sounds he made.

Deciding to go with his second plan for now, he also began to think of an alternate solution for when he was danger-close to the dummy. Treading softly, he went from cover to cover. Each time he made too rushed footsteps, he caused a slight crinkle or other sounds depending on the objects he stepped on, eliciting a silent wince from Naruto each time. He was half-way there when he stopped to think at one of the covers. So far he has made his way undetected, but with the way he was going, he couldn't risk getting any closer.

'What are you going to do now I wonder, Naruto?' Iruka thought with interest.

'Come on. Think!' Naruto tried to coax himself into figuring out something to best this test. 'I can't get close without making some sort of noise at the rate I need to go to get to another cover in time. And I can't take my time and hide my noise levels because then the stupid dummy would see me when it turns. I can't hide forever and yet I can't be in plain sight.' Naruto thought. In his frustration he lightly hit the back of his head against the crate he was currently crouched behind.

Then it hit him, or rather he hit it (and hit a nail on its head... with his head). The crate! He could hide inside the crate and move closer from the inside when the dummy's turned away from him. Hide in plain sight, sort of.

'Hehe, nothing like some 'crate'ive thinking outside the box, or rather inside the box.' Naruto joked to himself.

Once the dummy was turned once again away from him, Naruto maneuvered into the crate stealthily. He was in luck, the crate's bottom was pried away easily with a kunai. Once he was finished dislodging the bottom, he opened the lid ajar and carefully spied the dummy. Once it turned away again, Naruto quietly lifted the crate, with only his feet and legs showing now, and moved away from the now discarded bottom. He then set it down again.

'Okay,' crated-Naruto thought. 'Now to make visibility a possibility.' He then took a kunai and as quietly as possible enlarged a hole slightly so that he could see enough of the outside. The finished hole was barely visible if you looked at the crate from a distance, you had to know it was there to begin with if you wanted a chance to notice really.

'I just hope I can compensate for the added weight.' Naruto mused as he set his plan in motion.

Luckily he was able to compensate and made little sound, though he had to take a slower pace than he could previously. But with the fact he could hide instantly more than made up for that, he could even afford to take even slower towards the end to completely remove sound from the equation.

Iruka sweat-dropped at the sight. 'It's a ridiculous yet ingenious plan. I bet it would even work against simpler minded targets in real-life.' he was tempted to put a commendation down for ingenuity but thought better of it, he didn't want to be thought of as silly for openly applauding an outlandish move such as this. Still, he would privately tell Naruto later what he thought about it. Also, this was a rather difficult section that has no real-life counterpart so he supposed that it was suitable for this situation. He had no doubt that Naruto would adapt as necessary in any other situation that this simulation was based upon.

Naruto had now reached the nightingale floor bit. He put down the box and pondered how he should proceed. He had neglected to take into account that he needed to pass the noisy floor and he would most definitely not pass it with a heavy box on his back. Yet, there was no other way.

'Hmm. If I was in a real life scenario, what would I do?' crated-Naruto mumbled quietly to himself, confident that the box would mask any of his already quiet noises. 'When in doubt, look around.' He concluded for the time being. After he made sure that the dummy had just turned away, he quickly opened the crate ajar and took a look on the nightingale floor area. He could see a few barrels and crates along with grain and nuts littering the floor, the noisy stuff would give him away instantly unless he had a way to suppress it somehow.

'Hang on. I'm missing something here. This area reminds me of a grain storage building. I know for a fact that where there's grain and nuts, vermin are not far off. Vermin tend to make noise in this kind of place, small and quiet though they are normally, and you still have a tough time spotting them despite hearing them.' Naruto observed, scratching his cheek in thought. 'Iruka-sensei told us that the dummy would detect sound and turn around to spot the noise maker. I assumed only we could be the sound makers, but if I'm right, the dummy will turn around to look in the direction of the sound because there was a sound there, not because I made it. This would coincide with the fact anyone would turn their heads at any noise, but not necessarily go ape-shit over it if they don't find anything out of the ordinary.'

Coming to this conclusion, Naruto also ventured a guess that this was how the others who passed this section made it. In any case, he would argue his point and perhaps be cleared should he be proven wrong. After all, a simulation is supposed to mimic reality and any deviation from reality that is discovered by a pre-genin ought to be considered a gain instead of a detriment.

Right now, Naruto stood on gravel. This suited his plan perfectly as he needed a way to misdirect and confuse the dummy's simple seals. Grabbing a couple of handfuls of the small stones, he then timed his diversion just when the dummy wasn't looking. Once it turned, Naruto opened up the crate and threw the improvised distraction tools at the other end of the nightingale floor from where he was, which was on the right hand side if you were to look at it from the entrance to this section.

As expected, the gravel caused quite the ruckus. To Naruto's glee, the dummy acted just as hoped and looked frantically at all the noise coming from the gravel's direction. Not wasting his window of opportunity, Naruto hauled ass, and crate, along the nightingale floor the short distance he could before the noise died down. His own noise was heard, but not prioritized so the dummy never spotted him. Naruto repeated until he was close enough to the dummy to silently pounce on it and deliver the killing blow. Once done, he went forth to the final section.**

Iruka was once again impressed, Naruto had actually found the loophole in the instructions he gave the students, but he went even further and used the terrain to his advantage rather than allowing it to be an obstacle. This he HAD to give a commendation for.

Naruto believed the last section was rather straightforward and wasted little time in picking up the VID and secured it in a firm grip. Though it was rather heavy. *'Gah! Did they use Chouji for a weight template for this thing?' He mentally groaned. He then recalled that the weight shifted occasionally to simulate a range of different violent reactions a VIP might have. With this in mind he gripped harder on the VID as he made a break for it.

As Iruka had informed them, the pursuers started a few seconds of picking the VID up and senbon launchers commenced fire from the sidelines. While Naruto was back on solid ground once again rather than in the air, he was encumbered by the Chouji-weighalike and seriously hampered his evasion abilities. Undeterred, Naruto pushed forward and evaded what he could and took the hits of those he couldn't. He arrived at the end with twenty seconds to spare and had 6 senbon hits on himself and 1 on the dummy.**

Removing the senbons and placing them nearby the dummy for Iruka to count, Naruto then dashed towards the academy. All in all, the whole obstacle course took Naruto a total of 36 minutes. And his sprint to the academy took only 8 minutes, where as the average was set at between 12-14 minutes.

Iruka had counted Naruto's total points of the obstacle course; out of seven dummies in the first section Naruto had managed to hit five. Here the score counted as +6 for each target and -3 for each missed. If one manages to clear the bags on the first try the reward was 50 points, with a reduction of 10 per attempt as well as -10 per fall off. If you reached the point of no gain you were out.

Since Naruto cleared it on his first attempt and hit 5 dummies he got a total of 74 on the first section.

The second section Naruto got eleven out of twenty launcher dummies. Dummies were worth 5 per kill and therefore Naruto got 55 but it got reduced to 51 for the senbon that struck him. No bonus here for first attempt success, though one can consider it a personal merit.

Third section was where Naruto was the most effective. Out of 10 guards, he got three along the way and made it past all guards and trap seals undetected on his first try. Three guards with 8 points per kill and success on his first attempt landed him 44 points with an additional 20 for showing the ability to adapt and foresight in cutting through fabrics and hiding bodies. But a demerit for needlessly risking discovery brought the total from 64 to 54.

Fourth section was cleared on his first attempt with a commendation for ingenuity. That made it a 30+10 point allocation.

Finally Naruto cleared the final section with 6 hits on himself and one hit on the dummy, reducing his points by 6 and 3 respectively, total -9 points, but once again Naruto managed to clear it on his first attempt. Earning him 20 points. Totaling his points to 11.

Grand total for the obstacle course, excluding the endurance test, for Naruto was 233 out of a maximum of 342. 30 points were commendations. Commendations don't have a maximum number, neither does the demerits. This exam's absolute maximum, which includes the ninjutsu test, went as high as 400.

Since he lost 8 points for the endurance test, Naruto ended up having a net score of 225.

It has been determined that 100 points is the passable grade because that is around where the Genin still have some use, though without improvement will remain low-Genin.

At 150 the Genin are at average level and should be able to start doing C-ranked missions after the normal amount of D-ranks.

At 200 a Genin is proven to be an excellent student and is possibly either a prodigy or a genius.

At 260+ a Genin is phenomenal and should already be given the option to partake in the Chunin exams if he or she has teammates of similar scoring or are at least at 200.

But all this is only in regards to basic skills and weapon/tool applications. There is still Taijutsu and Ninjutsu to consider. Genjutsu is not taught in the academy, only the dispelling of simpler genjutsu. It is the norm that it's a Genin team sensei's responsibility to teach and/or advance any genjutsu skills and the dispelling of the same, more weight is put on increasing the dispelling skill as it is easy to learn by comparison and quite necessary.

Since everyone's taijutsu, as mentioned, was top notch it was left out of the exam and the scoring system adjusted for its absence.

Now we find Naruto having just arrived at the Academy. He was surprised to find Iruka among the evaluators there since he believed he was still back making notes and calculations or whatever.

"Welcome, Naruto. Great job back at the course." Iruka addressed him warmly.

Naruto bowed politely at the teachers. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei. It sure was a challenging series of tests. Although I'm curious as to why we aren't to be tested in trap placing and other skills."

Iruka nodded in acknowledgment of the query. "It is simple, Naruto. Traps are too complex to effectively test a full class all in one day, not to mention requires a victim to enter it in a desired way, which can be any number of ways depending on the nature of the trap. I suppose you could say that your trap making and placing skills will be put to the test for real later instead. Another reason for this course was to give you a glimpse of the real thing, and in the process make you take all aspects of our profession seriously, if you haven't done so already, including traps, since the course was full of them."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "So what'cha need from me now, senseis?"

"We want you to do a series of jutsus, as I said before. First off we have the Kawarimi. Replace yourself with an object of your choice."

Naruto nodded and did so without trouble, choosing to replace with a chair.

"Very good, Naruto. Now perform the Henge jutsu." Naruto transformed into a perfect copy of his personal sensei, Yokai.

"Naruto, who is this?" One of the teachers inquired. Naruto remembered the guy's name as being Mizuki, a rather slimy fellow whom Naruto couldn't really tell if he was trustworthy or not. Which usually put him on the not trustworthy side of the fence by default.

"This is what my personal sensei, Yokai-sensei, look like." Naruto answered, also sounding like his sensei.

"Excellent, Naruto. Now perform the bunshin."

This was the moment of truth. 'Kami, help me do this right.' Naruto prayed, not really expecting a reply at this time.

"Hai, sensei." Naruto replied and summoned a host of bunshins around the classroom, all looking stable and believable save the lack of shadows.

Praying that it would be enough, Naruto took in the reaction of the teachers. He got a bad feeling from their look of disbelief for some reason.

"Um... Naruto. We didn't need you to make so many." Iruka commented.

"You said perform the jutsu, not how many or how few." Naruto pointed out.

Mizuki chuckled. "He got you there, Iruka."

Giving a small grunt of annoyance, Iruka turned back to Naruto. "Well, summoning this many clones is just a wasteful move. Please dispel them and summon only a maximum 3." Iruka ordered.

Gulping, Naruto merely nodded and had the bunshins disappear. Afterward, he gave his next attempt the largest amount of focus he could muster and executed it.

Only to be disappointed once again at the sickly 3 bunshins lying around him.

"Naruto..." Iruka softly addressed the boy.

"Hai, sensei?"

"Lack of proper control of this magnitude is enough for a severe reduction of your score. As it stands, you have lost 160 points for not being able to perform the simplest of the jutsu as we have requested."

"But sensei! I have more jutsu I can use, I can even perform the Kage Bunshin without fail!" Naruto protested vehemently.

"Yes, but I doubt you can make up for this drop in points." Iruka sighed dejectedly.

"Then you wont mind if I try anyway, would you?" Naruto asked hotly.

Iruka studied Naruto for a few moments before giving his consent.

Naruto performed the Kage Bunshin and as he had claimed, he performed it without fail, whether it was one or one hundred clones. He could do it. That brought his score up by 20 for the jutsu's difficulty level. Normally a successful jutsu would be counted with a 5 as it is expected of the students to be able to perform any jutsu taught well by now. However, Naruto was very impressive with his use of Kage Bunshins and earned a hefty increase. Still not enough to get past yet though.

"What about that jutsu I used when we first met, sensei? We both know I can use that in my sleep." Naruto supplied.

"Yes, but that would only put you 5 points higher since it's an unknown jutsu. Please do it now."

"Um... the thing is, I am sworn not to do any clan related jutsu in front of anyone before I become Genin."

"Then I am sorry, Naruto. Unless you are able to show other jutsu to us, you are right now just below the required amount of points."

"I... I have nothing else." Naruto sadly declared.

"Oh, let's be reasonable, Iruka. He's shown impressive skills and has tons of promise in everything else. Maybe we should just pass him anyway and ignore the bunshin deficiency." Mizuki cut in. Despite the positive interjection on his behalf, Naruto still couldn't get rid of his gut feeling that Mizuki had a different agenda than aiding Naruto.

"No, Mizuki. Naruto's poor display of bunshin creation is a clear sign of wastefulness and lack of control, which will, in all probability, get him or others killed because of him collapsing due to exhaustion in the middle of a fight where others would have lasted many times longer."

A sad, silent moment passed before Iruka announced the verdict. "Uzumaki Naruto. Given the poor scoring you have accumulated in these exams, I have no choice but to fail you."


	33. Lost Classmate

A/N: I've noticed that some of my reviewers have posted as guests. While some post compliments, some other have posted as if they were expecting a reply (you know who you are), please login or create an account before doing so or I, and others you post to, wont be able to respond to your comments.

Also, please let me know in your reviews if you can easily see where indicated songs begin and end as well as what you think of the song and if you think they fit, this is important to me as I have every intention of making music a considerable part of my way of storytelling.

Thanks for reading and enjoying my story, and thanks for taking the time to review, those of you who do.

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Chapter 32: Lost Classmate

Meanwhile outside the academy, the rookie Genin who, obviously, passed the exams were gathered around to tell each other about their passing through this exam.

The boys had gathered together to boast and tell how awesomely they breezed through the obstacle course and aced the ninjutsu test.

The girls had gathered together to compare each others' experiences.

Two ways of telling the same thing, but there you go.

Shino had started off the exam by carefully analyzing and calculating the movements of the bags and with his methodical and logical mindset it was like taking a stroll, therefore he had an easy time of getting all the targets and make it on his first attempt through. Second section was a bit tougher due to not being used to a thinner foothold and not being trained in reflexes and agility, not to the same extant as his peers at any rate. Shino had downed 14 dummies but gotten hit 7 times, much to his displeasure.

Shino, being laconic by nature, was almost at home in sneaking around the labyrinth and taking down any 'unfortunate' dummy along the way. He only encountered 2 but didn't hide the bodies nor cut through the fabric. It occurred to him later on that possibility was open to him but he had long since passed the test. But as he had performed flawlessly in that section otherwise it was of no consequence. Had Shino known of the commendations, then he would have had a slightly wounded pride for overlooking such a thing.

The fourth section Shino used a technicality and sent his kikai bugs at the target, not as a swarm, but sneaking along the floor so to not attract attention, even though the dummy most likely wouldn't have reacted to insects, he knew a real life enemy would have. Later on, a teacher had approached the Aburame on behalf on Iruka to reprimand him for using a jutsu.

Shino had rebutted saying that the kikai bugs are not a jutsu, but companions, like Kiba's dog Akamaru was and could be used just as any tools. When accused of using long ranged weaponry, Shino once again claimed that the bugs weren't weapons, despite their offensive uses. They are, again, companions and actually went in to make a contact-kill instead of himself. Thus he passed the section on a technicality.

The teacher had explained the section was to test one on stealth and invisibility while getting close to the target. Shino said he never made a sound nor was visible to the dummy and neither were his bugs. The teacher argued that the effort was supposed to have been made by Shino himself. Shino responded that it does not say in the rules that the contender specifically has to do it him or herself, just that the target has to be taken down without ever 'realizing' the ninja's approach. He finished by saying that his sneaking skills is at least decent anyway and will be further improved upon just like anything else an Aburame learns.

Giving up, the teacher returned in and gave Iruka Shino's response. Iruka sighed at the other end of the radio and told the teacher to drop it, Shino had gotten them on this and could be considered a good ninja for finding workarounds to achieve objectives. But that didn't mean he would consider this a commendation worthy workaround.

The last one Shino had some difficulty with since Aburames are naturally weaker and frailer than most people due to their somewhat porous bodies that hosts the bugs they possess. Therefore he had to actually redo that section once because he was unprepared for the weight of the dummy and the intensity of the spasms it was doing and thus dropped it. He didn't make it in time to evade the pursuers. Next time he was more prepared and got to the other end, while taking a bunch of senbon hits.

Not pleased with it but kept it to himself, Shino made a dash for the academy which took 11 minutes. One advantage with a porous body was you had less mass to put into motion, especially if you have your bugs fly alongside you instead of letting them weigh you down. He still wasn't impressively fast, but decent.

Jutsus were no biggie for him. So there he was, a fresh Genin thanks to his efforts.

Kiba had a worse time of it, but still passed with decent scores. He was a bit brash and impatient but quickly learned to rein himself in to focus when he failed two times during the first section of the course. It also helped that Akamaru gave a few reprimanding barks to let Kiba know he was taking this too lightly.

Speaking of Akamaru, he was too short to even have to worry about the bags. Kiba had decided that while he was used to carrying Akamaru around he would have Akamaru loose and doing his own thing. As soon as the obstacle course was mentioned, he and the puppy had agreed that as far as Akamaru was able, he would actively participate.

Kiba was better with avoiding getting hit by senbon and using speed, but his accuracy with weapons was lacking compared to Shino. His stealth was passable as he went through the labyrinth on his first try but had several close calls with guards and seals. Thanks to his and Akamaru's noses and sharp eyes they managed to avoid getting detected, not to mention reflexes when they were surprised in a similar manner to Naruto. They chose to evade the dummy's sight rather than attack, which went well fortunately.

Kiba had unintentionally done the same thing as Shino and used Akamaru. His small body made nearly enough no sound and was much easier to conceal if the need arose. Once Akamaru was close enough he jumped and tore out the dummy's throat. Iruka had groaned about being outsmarted again in that same, unintentional manner. Seeing as two clans had ways of circumventing, in a feasible way, this problem they presented them, he decided to give Kiba and Shino, each a commendation for ingenuity.

Kiba managed the last part and made it on his first attempt, but was careless and allowed 3 hits on the dummy and 3 on himself.

He made it to the academy in 9 minutes and performed jutsus flawlessly.

Shikamaru had used his head, as he usually does, and went through the first section in the same manner Shino did. He also had just about the same result with the second section. The third one he avoided guards altogether and went through without problems. Unknown to him, Iruka gave him a commendation for flawlessly avoiding detection and made risking raising a late alarm due to missing or discovered dead guards void. Both abilities, killing and the ability to avoid killing, were considered good things to be able to do. So if one student decided to kill guards, he gets points, and even commendations if one conducted oneself like Naruto did. But if one could avoid detection without ever risking arousing suspicion altogether it was also a positive trait and was thus rewarded. After all, the student has already proven at this juncture that he or she are able to kill anyway and will further down the line to boot.

Shikamaru had deduced quite early on about distractions and used various, present debris to misdirect the attention of the dummy to advance. But Shikamaru didn't don a portable hiding place like Naruto did, he merely caused the distraction and made a break for it. Risky but faster. No Nara like to drag things out when it isn't necessary, it was just too much of a drag.

At the end Shikamaru had the same troubles as Shino. While not owning a porous body like Shino, his lazy disposition has caused his body to be weaker than average and thus had the exact same problems his fellow strategist had. But he made it through in the end, or his mother would have given him a troublesome scolding later on.

Taking a leisurely jog, he arrived at the academy 13 minutes later and performed the required jutsu as well as his clan's shadow jutsu. While he was excellent academically and had a good head on his shoulder on the theoretical stuff behind their skills, he still ended up being slightly below average, which didn't matter to him as long as he avoided his mother's berating from hell.

Chouji had done something unexpected, he had tested the robustness of the bags and found he could actually punch them to keep them away from him long enough to move forward. Though this left little room or time to throw shuriken, he managed to barely get a shot at each of them before reaching the end. But he only downed three targets.

His rotund frame made for a bigger and overall slower target as it turned out in the second section, but he had enough leg strength to make up for it a bit with surprising bursts of speed. So he came out of it with 10 downed dummies and 6 hits.

He was a tad clumsy during the labyrinth section and got detected when he failed to notice a seal on the floor. Second attempt he almost got detected again by a guard and in his attempt to evade its notice he passed by a seal on the wall. But after he learned his lesson he managed to pass, even going so far as taking out most of the guards to make up for his clumsiness.

Chouji, as well as any other Akimichi, was not known for being very stealthy and had obvious difficulty solving the problem in the fourth section. But he had a stroke of luck as well as an epiphany when he took out a bag of chips to help him think. He noticed the dummy seemed to react to the noise his bag made and came up with a rather clever solution. He quickly emptied the bag as only an Akimichi could and tied a ninja wire to the bag, placed a stone slightly smaller than his fist inside the bag and when the dummy was turned threw it far as he could. When it landed, the dummy followed the noise. Chouji kept pulling the wire to maintain the bag's noise level. It succeeded to divert the dummy's attention, and kept it from looking in Chouji's direction, despite him making noises himself.

Iruka facepalmed and didn't know whether to put a commendation for ingenuity or a demerit for a stupid idea, which against all reason worked. He was starting to lose hope that this section was going to actually give the hopefuls a real challenge, much less instill in them the idea of stealth and proper assassination methods.

Chouji's larger than average frame actually came in handy in the last section as it provided with greater strength to carry and prevent unbalancing movements from the VID. It also let Chouji take all senbon that were about to hit the dummy, which he willingly did, trying to imagine it being Shikamaru he was trying to save and thus put extra effort in making sure his imagined friend was safe from harm.

Iruka smiled and put in a commendation for Chouji being willing to take hits for an ally, this commendation was not given if the dummy took even one hit. This more than balanced out the negative scoring the amount of hits Chouji received did, which was, surprisingly, only 4.

However, Chouji had not great stamina and it took him 12 minutes to get back to the academy. His jutsu repertoire made up for this though. He came out with lesser points than Shikamaru, but still well above passable.

Sasuke had performed well. But even the great Uchiha Sasuke had made mistakes.

The first section he showed his planning skills and ability to memorize patterns. He then displayed his prowess in hitting targets. He downed all but the last dummy.

The next section he evaded all but two senbon while nailing 14 dummies.

Third section he used both subtlety and speed but didn't think outside the box like a few of his classmates had managed. Thus he didn't cut through walls nor did he hide the four bodies he downed.

But he got through on his first attempt.

The fourth section he actually used a different approach, literally. He grabbed a large cloth from a nearby crate and hung it around himself like a cape. When approaching he minimized sounds as expected, then, when he knew the dummy was about to turn around, he dropped down and used the cloth as a makeshift camouflage, covering his entire body and therefore didn't look like a human, which he surmised was what the dummy's rudimentary seal was designed to look for.

Then, when the nightingale floor part came Sasuke had the cloth cover him entirely as he laid flat down on his stomach and began to crawl. As soon as the sound was inevitably made, he froze and and proceeded once the dummy turned again. Like Naruto, he pounced when close enough.

Iruka was both pleased and disappointed in the choice of approach. At first the cloth was a good idea, but the choice of risking detection by the dummy while crawling like that was a rushed and ultimately foolish tactic. He had no choice but to demerit Sasuke for an unrealistic approach that, while working in this instance, would never work in a real situation, not even with the dumbest of targets.

Sasuke was decent with the protection detail, but allowed the dummy to take a few hits without even trying to shield it. While Iruka couldn't demerit him for it, he frowned upon the performance.

Sasuke's sprint to the academy took 9 minutes. His ninjutsu was above average as he performed the great fireball technique for them, outside of course.

Sasuke passed with a bit more than 200 points.

Ino and Sakura had kept an even pace in both total time and overall scoring and had similar approaches to the obstacles they faced.

They had some trouble with the bags' timing and took longer than the rest to start. Both had gotten knocked down twice and managed to barely pass on their third attempt with only 1 target hit each.

Second section was better since they seemed to be more precise in their jumps as well as agile enough to both retain their balance and avoid getting hit as they went. They didn't get as many targets though as they took out a total of 14 targets, Ino 8 while Sakura had 6.

The labyrinth posed little problem for them. Ino took out one guard while Sakura, in her frustration of not getting that many dummies had chosen to take down 2 before moving on. Both reached the end without raising any alarms, though they took their time.

Despite their fan-girlish behavior and ditzy dispositions at times, the girls were smarter than one would've guessed. Ino had the approach of hiding inside a smaller barrel and moving along like Naruto did, but had to really take baby steps on the nightingale floor before coming up with the idea to throw a kunai at another object and toppling it over to distract the dummy and thus gain more time to move closer. Finally she leaped from the barrel to eliminate the annoying thing.

Sakura used the environment to her advantage and took some of the gravel when she was at that part and threw them in regular intervals while jumping from object to object that were on the nightingale floor out of the line of sight of the dummy before coming down and taking out the dummy.

While Sakura was faster than Ino in this instance, she lost her momentum when she didn't have enough strength to properly handle the VID the first attempt she made. Angered at the failure, she got the strength boost she usually gets and in sheer, empowered wrath grabbed the VID by the neck and ran faster than the senbon launchers could react and got to the end.

Iruka sweat-dropped at the sight.

Ino was no better in the muscle department but she had another carrying technique than Sakura had, which happened to be arm-slung-over-shoulder. Ino chose to carry the VID by hauling it over her shoulder like a sack and started her run. While she lost her balance a bit on the way, she managed to recover and make it to the end with 3 hits on the dummy and 2 hits on herself. Sakura had a total of 3 hits on herself while the dummy had 2 on the first attempt. On her second there were no hits on either of them.

Both had the same travel time of 11 minutes. Ino had one over Sakura in terms of repertoire of jutsus.

Both came out with slightly less than average scoring, with Ino acting smug with a handful of points more than Sakura.

Hinata, at first intimidated by the amount of bags she needed to pass, remembered Naruto's encouraging words and, emboldened, focused her mind to tackle the problem. She was able to get the timing right and any minor miscalculation she happened to make, her superior reflexes, agility and flexibility countered that. She managed to finish the first obstacle with 5 dummies downed.

The second section was a challenge but ultimately she managed to down 10 dummies and received only 1 hit.

She went through the labyrinth without raising an alert. But Iruka was unprepared for how Hinata engaged the two guards she came across. She chose to make less than lethal take-downs, choosing to knock them out with a blunt strike to the back of the head. While she didn't cut through the fabric, she did hide the 'unconscious' bodies. Iruka considered her choice of neutralization for a few moments before concluding that certain missions might necessitate that targets of opportunity not be killed for one reason or another. In short, Hinata had earned two commendations. One for not killing any guards and one for hiding the bodies.

At the fourth section, Hinata had a unique solution that Iruka didn't think students would know. Hinata seemed to be using the same principle of tree or water walking and stayed ever so slightly above the debris without actually disturbing them. Allowing her to move from cover to cover at a fast pace without any sound. Finally she reached her target, and struck a killing blow this time, much faster than any student so far, and most likely will remain the fastest participant in these exams. Iruka jotted down a commendation for ingenuity for Hinata's solution. He idly mused that if there were students that had done the tree walking or water walking exercise before, they most likely would not think of doing it in a situation such as this.

Hinata performed the last section to satisfaction and got to the end on her first try with 4 senbon on herself and 2 on the dummy. She was actually not very pleased with her performance since she was trying to visualize Naruto as being the one she carried and she wanted to 'save' him without a scratch. But as she ran to the academy she knew Naruto would say 'it is enough that you managed so save the guy (me) as the 'mission' required.' So she decided to be happy about it anyway. She reached the academy after 9 minutes.

After displaying her jutsus, she ended up with a score of 248, much to her surprise. She thought she had just barely passed 200 according to her quick calculations. Then Iruka told her of the commendations and she was elated and smiled and blushed in happiness as she accepted her headband.

It was as everyone had told their story that they were starting to wonder what happened to Naruto.

"Wh-where's N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked in worry.

"Perhaps the dobe got lost trying to find what direction he was supposed to go through the bags?" Sasuke joked with a smirk.

"Not funny, Sasuke." Shikamaru said with an annoyed glance.

"Indeed, Sasuke-san. It is illogical of you to make so light of Naruto-san's skills when you are well aware that they are the opposite of the implication of your jest." Shino added neutrally.

"Not to mention this is a critical moment." Chouji said between bites. "It would be so sad if he actually failed for whatever reason."

"You act as if I actually meant what I said." Sasuke finally responded with a bit of indignation. "I know the dobe can handle that course. I would be seriously let down if he couldn't." He finished seriously.

"Heh, that Naruto."Kiba then spoke. "He's, like, so unpredictable that any unpredictability the course can offer pales in comparison. I bet he will pass on that factor alone." This did garner some chuckles.

Hearing their faith in Naruto, Hinata's spirits picked up a bit. Though she had to wonder what was taking so long.

Ino and Sakura were starting to wonder themselves. They knew Naruto was too good to let that course hold him up for too long.

After a while, Shikamaru stood up from his resting spot beneath the tree with the swing, upon which Chouji happened to idly swing in a small arc.

"Something is definitely wrong." He surmised with a rather grim expression.

"Huh? How do you figure Shika?" Chouji asked.

"I've calculated the rough time it would take for someone of Naruto's skill level to complete the course, run back here and the time it would take to complete the jutsu display. By my estimation, Naruto is half an hour late."

"Care to enlighten us to the factors in your calculations, Shikamaru?" Sakura asked as she approached along with Ino and Hinata. Kiba and the rest were not that far behind since Kiba, due to his sensitive hearing, alerted the rest of the boys to the subject of discussion Shikamaru brought up.

"Simple, given the fact that Naruto is among the better, if not one of the best, students in terms of practical skills and physical abilities, he will have done no less than any of us here and completed the course. If he has any brains, which we all know he does, he would have made certain the bags would not surprise him and at the same time give his best shot at the targets in place. I give him 5 minutes to get the timing right before properly starting the course due to this.

Next section I give him no more than 2 minutes to get the placing of the poles and roughly 10 minutes for the labyrinth, 15 if he failed the first attempt, which I seriously doubt. Then the next section I suspect would have him stuck for sometime. And since I am roughly aware of how he thinks in a strategic and tactical sense, I estimate he would take a total of 15 minutes to complete that section, planning and execution included. We can basically skip the final section as he would breeze through that no problem and with no time wasted." Shikamaru shared his estimations with a bothered yet concerned expression.

"So... all in all Naruto would take about 32 minutes plus about 5-7 minutes to account for the unmentioned actions and possible variables." Sakura summarized out loud.

Ino then added. "Then take into account how fast Naruto is. I would guess about 9 minutes to get here. Then another 5 for going through the jutsus he knows. Grand total would be about 52 minutes."

Shikamaru nodded. "Exactly. But we're well passed that. I'd say we've waited here for about twenty minutes, counting from Sasuke's arrival since he was the last one to go before Naruto, who was last in line. Given the fact that Naruto started the first section immediately after Sasuke, or rather five minutes after him if you recall the time we think Naruto took to get the timing, he should have been here with us after ten minutes, at the most."

"Perhaps Naruto-san needed more time with either the labyrinth section and/or the stealth section than you suspected, Shikamaru-san." Shino offered.

"I wont discount the possibility, but I know a bit about his thought processes and I deem them unlikely."

Hinata got a bad feeling, she was well aware of Naruto's difficulties getting the bunshin jutsu down. Something that, despite her assistance with her Byakugan, she could not understand why Naruto was having so much trouble with. She recalled that while Naruto had decent control, at the execution point of the jutsu, it's like he let go of his control and bunshin or bunshins got way more juice than they should. Naruto has voiced his frustration and claimed he was doing it as instructed but it just wont happen as he wills it. He described it, in passing, as trying to fill a small vial to a certain point only, with a garden hose that is set on full spray, using only a crude adjuster at the nozzle.

It was the sole thing that Naruto just could not perform to save his life. Hinata was also aware of the fact that this jutsu is, while simple, a perfect, if not the most perfect example of fine control when executed correctly. Seeing as the academy so highly values fine control, it was possible Naruto was going to get a considerable point deduction for this flaw. But would they really deduct so much as to fail Naruto?

"The dobe would have come here even if he somehow failed." Sasuke said.

"Whether that's true or not, he is not here now. Which is starting to worry me." Kiba added with a frown.

"Ano... We should go look for him." Hinata suggested, bordering on urging.

"I concur." Shino agreed.

"I third that notion." Kiba proclaimed.

"We all agree." Sakura said, having noticed the same look everyone had at Hinata's suggestion.

With nothing more needed to be said, the group went inside the academy, to find it empty of teachers and participants. Kiba didn't even need a moment to start sniffing out Naruto's scent in order to follow it. Since Naruto was there not too long ago, it was a piece of cake to separate his scent from the teachers' and the other participants.

To their confusion, it seemed Naruto had left the academy through another exit. They all knew that Naruto was aware of the newly formed Genin's gathering outside once they were done. Already the suspicion and fear that Naruto might actually have failed grew exponentially.

Suddenly Kiba growled in apparent frustration. When asked about it he replied.

"Naruto's scent is spread all over the place. It seems he's somehow managed to make it appear as if he's taken off in many different directions at once."

"But how did he do that?" Ino asked.

"More importantly, why?" Shikamaru commented. "It's almost as if he knew we would come look for him, not that that would take a genius to figure out. Then he, somehow, made it so that Kiba would not be able to track him effectively by spreading his own scent. This is starting to look troublesome."

"Hinata, can you locate him?" Shino queried.

"I-I've been trying ever since we learned Naruto-kun w-wasn't in the academy." Hinata answered, Byakugan still actively scanning. "Sadly, my sight does not reach that far yet, only a hundred meters in any direction. Naruto-kun is not within my sight."

"Shino," Shikamaru addressed the bug wielder. "are you able to spread your insects all over Konoha?"

"I am. Though it will take time to locate Naruto-san. Then my insects have to fly back to me to report his position, during which Naruto-san might have already relocated."

"It's a chance we have to take. Although I was under the impression you only needed to place a female kikaichu on someone in order to find them anywhere?"

"I need to be in relative proximity to the target to place a female. Female kikaichu beetles are only able to respond to simpler commands and have a smaller travel distance from the hive cluster before they merely cling to something or someone to await retrieval."

"Why does that description remind me of certain persons?" Kiba smirked, glancing quickly at two specific human females who glowered at him in response. Kiba knew he was gonna get it but the jibe was worth it in his opinion. Ino and Sakura were... slow starters in the academy before they, as Ino likes to put it, bloomed properly into kunoichi material.

"But I don't understand how that works. How does a female tell you where someone they have landed on is?" Chouji asked.

"I am glad you asked, Chouji-san." Shino responded. "Once the female does acquire its proper target, it lands somewhere discreet and produces pheromones that male kikaichu can detect and track, even from a great distance. Hence Shikamaru's inquiry." Another knowing glance by Kiba to the more vain pair of kunoichi in the group followed by even more silent threats of physical injury.

"Males are furthermore, able to comprehend more advanced commands and instructions as well as having a greatly extended travel distance as compared to their female counterparts." For some reason, Kiba stood a bit prouder, as if the male side had just won a few points against the female side. "As you might recall, when I utilize my swarming ability in spars involving jutsu and tools, I can send my insects on flanking and surrounding maneuvers. Those are solely male kikaichu."

Looking at the sour females in the group, Shino decided to add. "But there's a reason why female insects are not used as such. While they are far fewer in numbers, they are essential to any colony to make certain it survives any drop in population."

"So what? They are only good for laying eggs?" Ino asked, slightly offended that the females are seemingly only good for attracting males and reproduction.

"Considering the fact that they can lay hundreds of eggs in the span of a few hours should the need arise, they are highly valued and protected in a kikaichu society." Shino neutrally retorted.

"Sounds like a really sexist society to me." Ino remarked.

"Ino-san, it is illogical to apply human sentiments and values to that of insects and other creatures. Do not take Kiba's ignorant remarks to heart, we all know you, and kunoichi in general, are just as capable as us male shinobi." Shino stated.

This earned Shino, unbeknownst to him, a few points with all the girls present, though only in terms of a friend, none of the girls present could ever consider dating a guy who has a body that doubles as a hive. But they made up their mind to be more open towards the Aburame than they have been before.

Kiba, of course, harrumphed and pouted. Shikamaru interjected at this point. "Alright, we're getting very off track here. While obviously fascinating and useful, if we don't actually use those kikaichu of yours we're not going to get anywhere fast." To which Shino nodded in the affirmative and gathered a swarm of his insects around him before making a gesture that had every one of them disperse in all directions.

"How long till we find out anything?" Sasuke asked.

"Hard to determine. I would say, at the earliest, thirty minutes, after that your guess is as good as mine." Shino answered.

"Well, it's getting dark. We should all head home in the meantime. Shino, you should have one bug close to all of us to let us know when you've got something. The signal is the bug landing on our foreheads. Once we are alerted, we'll meet back at the academy to then converge on his location." Shikamaru spoke.

"Agreed, take care to not kill your insect by reflex." Shino cautioned.

"Ugh, I am not looking forward to this." Sakura and Ino spoke in unison.

"Ano... I thought your insects have only a lifespan of a few hours, Shino san?" Hinata wondered.

Shino, impressed with her knowledge, replied. "What you say is true, which is why any insect assigned to each of you is a newly matured one that will last for as long as we should need. While most of my insects on the search will perish due to age before returning, I am confident that I will not have to wait for a new swarm to be hatched and send them on a second search."

"In the meantime, me and Akamaru will keep our noses sharp and our eyes and ears wide." Kiba added.

"Good luck to all of us, I have a feeling we will need it since I believe Naruto does not wish to be found right now." Shikamaru said.

"For failing?" Chouji asked.

"That's the only conclusion I can reach, what a drag." Shikamaru sighed in concern.

"B-but... w-we would never look down upon him for it." Hinata said.

"Maybe not," Sasuke agreed. "but the dobe might not think highly of himself or is just too angry to deal with anything else, even if we would be nothing but supportive. I should know, I've been there in a sense."

"He's not you, Sasuke." Kiba said. "How can you be certain he would react the same way as you would?"

"I said 'might', you mutt." Sasuke retorted angrily. "Besides, why else would he go to such lengths to avoid his friends?"

"Alright, that's enough. We'll figure this out once we get a chance to talk to Naruto. Let's just go home and eat and rest for a bit, Kami knows I need some right now." Shikamaru snapped before muttering. "Troublesome day".

With that, everyone left to tell their faimly the good news of their passing the exam and for some rest and await news from Shino.


	34. A Violent Baptism in the Night

Greetings all. I've set up a new soundtrack system for my story. Tell me if you like it or want the previous one, or maybe even suggest some other way of doing it. Do also let me know what you like of the music choices, I really wish to know.

Without further ado, here's the latest chapter of Naruto the Ghost Stalker and this one is the longest yet. 11,401 words!

* * *

Chapter 33: A Violent Baptism in the Night

Naruto had waited for dusk to arrive before making his approach to his mission area. His destination: the Hokage tower.

Donning his ninja garb, making him almost invisible in the dark, and his ninjato and black leg bag, Naruto left his apartment. He was certain his classmates were worried about him and would come looking for him, but he couldn't allow his friends to find him or everything would be at risk. Thus he hadn't allowed himself to be close to his usually frequented spots and spent the majority of the remaining afternoon and early evening just moving discreetly from hiding spot to hiding spot. He only got back to his apartment when the time was right to change clothes and grab his remaining gear, after making sure that no one was there waiting for him, of course.

Making his approach as subtly as he could manage, Naruto entered via the main door, which wasn't guarded. The patrolling Chunin and occasional Jounin or ANBU inside the tower were considered enough security. Besides, the security seals would raise an alert if any tampering with important doors, documents or other items were taking place, in most cases. But Naruto wasn't just any intruder. He was trained by Yokai to be an infiltration expert at an early age.

Yokai's clan were specialists in espionage and countering security of various types in order to achieve their objectives, to either assassinate people, steal objects or information or sabotage. The less common examples include; planting bugs (microphones) or other surveillance equipment or even recover a person that was abducted or capture enemy VIPs or personnel for interrogation purposes. The occasional observation or eavesdropping has occurred as well but were quite rare since one has to either know in advance of an applicable event that's going to occur in order to plan such an action or learn of it mid-mission and adjust accordingly.

For Yokai's clan, there were several levels of proficiency in these arts. By gathering points in clan specific tests, one can arrive at specific proficiency levels in any of the mentioned arts, like security disabling, assassination and so on. But a generic score is also calculated by accumulating the separate scores from every art into one score pool.

For the Yokaikage, or acting leader at the time he or she is unavailable, to efficiently assign missions, he or she had to have an idea of the difficulty level of those missions. Towards that end, the kage and his or her appointed strategists or tacticians, along with any shinobi responsible for gathering the needed information about the target and the target area, together determine the precise or rough level of difficulty, depending on available knowledge.

This level of difficulty can be anything from genin level to kage level. The system uses a minimum score requirement in the overall skill evaluation that any, for the mission, desired shinobi must have. Furthermore, the shinobi or kunoichi also must possess at least a determined amount of score in arts that have been determined necessary for the mission.

So once the kage had determined the various difficulty levels of the mission at hand, he or she then would gather information on available ninja with the minimum overall score level required. Once that had been done, the kage would sift through the selection to see what ninja have the suitable skill levels in the arts that were determined vital for the mission's success. With that done, the final step was to officially assign the chosen ninja the mission and send them to accomplish it.

Naruto was very skilled, for a Genin, in overall scoring. His least skilled area was security disabling since it touched, half the time, the area of seals which was very complex art for a Genin to comprehend. But, Naruto was a determined student and with very commendable effort managed to stay within the 'on par' section of that art's scoring that pertained his rank, which currently was Genin.

But the thing was, a Genin of Kagegakure no Sato (Hidden Shadow Village) was much more proficient in the art of stealth than the average Genin of any other village thanks to their focus on infiltration. Kagegakure Genin were, stealth-wise, actually on par with most Chunin of any other village. Particularly skilled or talented Genin, like Naruto was, were considered at the same level of high-level Chunin or Tokubetsu Chunin that specialized in stealth operations.

Therefore, Naruto entered the tower, fairly confident that his abilities would bring success to his mission, one way or another.

Treading softly as he went along the corridors and through the rooms of the tower, Naruto kept a constant vigil for any surveillance equipment and seals, just like in the labyrinth section of the obstacle course, not to mention security of the walking kind.

'Security is rather light for being the single-most important building in the village.' Naruto observed with a disapproving frown. 'I've not yet seen any cameras, seal-beams, nightingale floors or even trip-wires. Then there's the lights, the ceiling lights in the corridors are so small and only dimly lit, not to mention far from one another that there's enough pockets of shadow for me to hide it's not even funny. Either they are lax with security or they are confident with their guards. Oh, crap! Speaking of guards!'

[Shenmue OST Sparring with Fukuhara]

Further down the corridor an ANBU was strolling along, walking his rounds. Due to the somewhat limited lighting in the building, Naruto had little trouble finding refuge in one of the many noted pockets of shadow. For good measure, he activated his Spirit Stride jutsu to evade notice should the ANBU decide to check the shadows.

It turned out to be a very prudent measure as the ANBU carried a flashlight with him and was illuminating the dark places of the corridor to check for intruders. Since Naruto was hidden by his jutsu visually, he remained undiscovered. After the ANBU passed him by, Naruto thanked his Pops that the ANBU wasn't a sensory ninja or he might have caused the ANBU to sense something amiss with his use of jutsu.

Naruto started to move again once he was certain the ANBU had no chance to see or hear him.

[Soundtrack ends]

He went further down the corridor and went in one of the doors found along its walls. This particular door was not secured with a seal nor was it locked. He peered inside and found the reason when he noticed the typical features of a restroom, the one solely used by females according to the door's label. Blushing in embarrassment and mild self-admonishment, Naruto went a bit further ahead.

He did not have a map of the Hokage tower and he hasn't been inside it enough, nor in all its rooms, to know its entire layout by memory.

[Youtube - Splinter Cell 1 OST - Palace Stress]

But he suddenly found himself somewhere where he recognized the familiar surroundings from the last time he was in this area of the building, during the Uchiha massacre.

'Aha! Found it.' He thought with a pleased grin when he had finally located the room he sought after.

The room containing the scroll of high-level to forbidden jutsus.

He frowned as he, unsurprisingly, noticed the high-security seal in place on the door's handle and its lock.

'A rather simple lock but with a complex seal atop it. Fantastic.' Naruto remarked in his mind with a quiet groan. 'The seal is not very obvious, that I can see anyway, about in which order, if any, the unlocking should be done. I'm beginning to understand the reason they feel so confident with their measures.'

Naruto made two shadow clones to stand a bit away in either direction, keeping watch. Should someone come, they would dispel themselves to alert him of his imminent discovery.

'Now let's see. This seal has the appearance of a Jounin-level grade seal, at least judging by how difficult it looks to make. I'm still only getting the hang of the easier ones on mid-Chunin. Great, just great. Already it looks like I will have no choice but force myself inside, triggering the alarm doing it. But I can figure that out later. Rule #whichever "Always fully exhaust all your options before resorting to alert the enemy to your presence". Well, I still have to find the key to this door or simply pick the lock to get the physical part of this door.' Naruto mused.

'A key would be faster, but I have no idea where it is and I doubt anyone here would be willing to part with it or the info on its location, no matter how 'nice' I go about asking. I have to either pick the lock or use a melting agent to simply remove the locking mechanism altogether. But I still have to know which order, again if any, to unlock.

But I can't even do that if I can't figure this seal out. Dammit! How did Itachi do it without raising the alarm!?' Naruto pondered, his face frowning in frustration. 'Or perhaps this seal is something added on to or upgraded because of that mess.' He then added to himself.

'Maybe I bit off more than I could reasonably chew at my level of skill. Still, I have to do this, somehow.'

Just then, he received one of his clones' memories. A guard was approaching.

Having nowhere to hide, Naruto had to resort to using Spirit Stride since it was faster to do, after quickly dispelling the last clone, which also assured him that there was only one guard approaching.

With bated breath, Naruto intently watched the guard, whom Naruto vaguely recalled was the Chunin that incarcerated him under the assumption he was attempting to steal the scroll back during the massacre.

The guard, to the pleasant surprise of Naruto, decided to check the room for intruders. Apparently the guard never allowed the memory of his experience from back then to dwindle if his dutiful vigil was any indication. But what was even more surprising for Naruto was the fact the guard carried around the key for such an important room. Perhaps jiji had the foresight to think one step ahead of any intruder and hide the key on someone intruders wouldn't think of, a mere guard, albeit a trusted one. Naruto had to silently applaud his fellow shinobi on his work ethic and reliability.

'Oh, that's right. I'm not a ninja just yet.' Naruto realized with a brief, invisible frown. 'Sorry, guard-san. You've left me an opening, literally, that I cannot pass up.'

The guard made a few hand signs and pressed his palm upon the seal before producing a key. He opened the door and looked inside through the doorway with a scrutinizing gaze, making sure to not overlook anything that was out of place. Finding nothing, he was about to close the door when his world faded into black with an ever so brief sensation of pain to the back of his head.

'It's ironic.' Noted Naruto as he caught the unconscious man. 'Last time we met, he falsely accused me of trying to steal the forbidden scroll. This time he would have been right, had he caught me.'

After dragging the ninja inside the room to hide him from discovery, Naruto proceeded to acquire his target, the forbidden scroll.

'All this feels... wrong somehow. I know that at the end of the day, the scroll will be back here safe and sound. But I can't shake the feeling that something's off. Hey Pops, am I doing the right thing here?'

[Soundtrack end]

"**You should not have let this much time pass before coming to me and ask that question, sonny."** Kami responded with a neutral tone, which made Naruto think Kami was slightly displeased. But whether it was because he was late in asking or his actions or both, he couldn't tell. Hence why he continued with his thought-communication.

'I know I'm a little late in asking, but I couldn't see any other way. I suppose I'm not yet used to the whole talking to you business.'

"**And why do you think that is?"** Kami asked with what Naruto believed was a knowing tone.

'Because I haven't really kept in touch since Hinata's kidnapping.' Naruto replied with a mental sigh.

"**Correct, My son. You should make more time to speak with me more often."**

'But... Never mind, I'll make more time when I can. Is what I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing?' Naruto decided to ask since he was pressed for time.

"**Things are progressing well."** Kami responded without any hint of displeasure.

'Uh... Ok, but is it the best way?'

"**You are not going to keep the scroll in your possession, you are essentially borrowing the scroll to make certain you complete your task. This is the best way to accomplish your goal."**

'Okay.' Naruto responded. 'Crap! I can't waste time, I need to get this done and get outta here.' Naruto realized with wide eyes.

With nothing further needed to be said, Naruto took the scroll and left the room. Using his Haunting Hunt jutsu, he had no problem leaving the building with the scroll undetected and rushed to the place where all would be decided.

Little did Naruto know that the Hokage had been watching him this whole time. He had sounded the alarm once he had confirmed that Naruto had escaped with the scroll.

Naruto also failed to notice a small insect landing on his back and was now the companion of an unaware Naruto.

Arriving at a certain location in the woods just outside the village, Naruto saw no one there. Deciding that he has enough time to read the scroll and take a breather while doing so, he proceeded to do just that. Since it was dark, as night had arrived, Naruto lit a dry branch to use as a makeshift torch before starting.

Since the Shadow Clone jutsu was right at the start, Naruto skipped it since he already knew of its workings. The next part detailed an expanded use for the Shadow Clone, called the Exploding Clone jutsu. Basically a normal Shadow Clone with the added effect of being able to detonate remotely or by the Shadow Clone's own will. Naruto instantly realized the many possible uses this feature can provide. It didn't take long for Naruto to commit the jutsu to memory.

The next bit had a jutsu called the Shuriken or Kunai Clone jutsu. It basically makes solid copies of any thrown weapons, usually said weapons, in mid flight. Thus making one weapon thrown capable of multiplying into a devastating barrage of metal, all using the residual imprint of the thrower.

This was a piece of cake for Naruto to understand and add to his arsenal of jutsus.

Next came the theory of elemental affinity and the dangerous to forbidden elemental jutsus. Naruto has heard of elemental jutsus before but had yet to learn of ninja having affinity for them. Though he wasn't overly surprised by the concept, certain ninja are known for being experts with certain jutsu, many of them being of one or two certain elements.

But Naruto could not find any concrete material about learning any jutsu. He basically got a hint from the scroll about the basics and then the scroll went on to describe the, generally, accepted procedures to learn for oneself and alerting the reader about the dangers of the more advanced jutsus. One thing caught Naruto's attention. The more intricate or potent the jutsu is, then, almost always, the danger to the user and/or others rises along with it.

Deciding to learn more about the matter from other sources, Naruto read on. Next bit covered summoning.

'There are various summoning creatures in the world. No one really knows where these creatures came from or how they came to be, just that they existed even longer than recorded history. The creatures themselves are not forthcoming regarding their origins, whether it be from secrecy or ignorance has never been clarified, though the former is suspected in almost every case.'

'In order to gain a summon, one must somehow find a representative of a summon clan or someone who has already gained their approval to summon and get the individual's trust to sign the summoning contract, as he or she is considered as a part of the clan of that creature. Once contact has been established, follow the animal or person's instructions and you should then gain them as allies. So far it is unknown if any animal supports a summoner being able to summon other creatures since, so far, any summon found in Konoha has little to do with other or even has animosity lingering with some of the other summons and thus are not agreeable with the notion.'

'It is unknown if there are any more creatures waiting to gain a summoner than currently is circulating in the world. Should the reader gain a completely new summon animal he or she is to be commended for it by the order of the Shodai Hokage (First Hokage) and gain the rank of either Clan Head, if he or she isn't part of a clan already, or become a Tokubetsu (Special) of his or her current rank.'

'Lastly, at least one clan of summons, the Toads, are known to train their more advanced summoners in something they call the Way of the Sage. It is know to be very powerful but the prerequisites of the Toads are strict and harsh, not to mention dangerous. Use all due caution when attempting to gain this power. It is unknown, but presumed, that other creatures have their own version of the Sage power.' The scroll concluded the chapter.

'Sounds like totally awesome stuff!' Naruto thought to himself with wide eyes. Sadly this was mostly the explanation of what the concept was about, nothing about learning how to gain it here and now. At least now he knew about it and can find out more about it later on from somewhere else, or from someone else.

He read next about the workings of seals, and while Naruto was interested in learning more, he knew that there was just not enough time to delve into this complicated subject. He already knew some, a great deal more than any regular Genin if you compare him to any other outside of the Hidden Shadow, but still, he's only at the apprentice level, and then only regarding security seals and storage seals.

He was confident he would learn more about all kinds of seals anyway as he grows as a Shinobi of both Konohagakure and Kagegakure.

He was about to read more when he heard noises from nearby. His impressively, for Genin, attuned senses detected the footfalls of an approaching person. This one sounded like he or she was a grown-up and was making haste. Naruto figured that the time has finally come to finish this deal.

But he was surprised with whom it was that appeared, it was his class' main sensei, Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked with shock written on his face.

Giving his wayward student a disappointed stare, Iruka spoke. "Naruto, what have you done?"

Remembering Iruka's verdict on his exam, Naruto returned the stare with an angry one of his own. "I've done what I needed to do." Naruto replied tersely. "This is the only way to fix things."

"Fix what?" Iruka asked with a flummoxed expression.

"Your blindness." Naruto replied simply.

"Excuse me?!" Iruka exclaimed with a heavily indignant tone. "Tread carefully, Naruto. I am still your superior in both ability and rank, so you best be showing the proper respect I am due." He then warned.

He continued with a more solemn tone. "If this is about me failing you I had no choice, the scoring system is the way it is, for a reason. And if you can't create a regular bunshin (clone) then you haven't put enough effort to learn to control..."

"Shove it, sensei!" Naruto bit back. "I have done all the exercises to improve my control, but it wont work. You of all people should know what my work ethic is like. How can you seriously accuse me of not trying hard enough?!" Naruto told his teacher with venom.

"I know you have tried your hardest, Naruto, but..." Iruka admitted but was cut off.

"But nothing! I have heard for a fact that one of the Genin from the previous year graduated while having a disability that made him completely unable to perform jutsus. At the most he was expected to be able to tree walk and tree jump as well as water walking. Tell me, sensei, if a guy that can't do jutsus to save his life, for the REST of his life, can pass, how come I can't?" Naruto demanded.

"Naruto, Rock Lee was a special case. It was requested by a Jonin that his exam be changed to fit his handicap and let him take it from there, since he saw great potential in him." Iruka explained.

"Oh yeah? Then how come I can't get a special case like that?" Naruto retorted.

"'Sigh' You don't have any disabilities, even if you had you..."

"Don't have a Jonin that sees potential in me, right." Naruto remarked sarcastically. "What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Don't you see potential in me?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"You know for a fact that others see potential in me?"

"True, however..."

"Then why the hell can't I get a break and pass this exam, huh?! I have abnormally large reserves that makes it extremely hard for me to get enough control to only squeeze out a tiny amount, IF I even CAN get it that to that level of precision."

"I realize that you have this problem but it isn't a handicap, Naruto."

"It is when the exam demands that I try to fill a lab vial to only a certain point using a water cannon!" Naruto shouted, using a parable.

"Take it easy, Naruto!" Iruka shouted back. "I realize your reserves are high, high enough to be a problem when performing control-demanding jutsus. But I doubt you have high enough to warrant any special treatment."

"How would you know? Are you an expert in where exactly the line goes?" Naruto asked.

"No, but..."

"Then I want a second opinion." Naruto stated coldly.

Staring at one another for a while, Iruka broke the silence. "Fine, I'll revoke the results until further notice." Iruka relented with an aggravated sigh. "But don't expect to actually pass, Naruto. Not only will you most likely get the same answer from whom I have in mind to ask, but your current actions will reflect extremely badly on your record. I'm sorry to say that I have no doubt your desired career as a ninja is over before it even had a chance to begin."

But to Iruka's shock, Naruto just grinned and said. "I think not, sensei. When Mizuki-sensei gets here, it will all be sorted out."

"Mizuki?" Iruka asked with a befuddled face. "What does Mizuki have to do with this?"

"Mizuki-sensei approached me right after you failed me. He said there was a back-up exam for those with potential that somehow failed the original exam." Naruto explained.

"Back-up exam?"

"Yep. The task was to sneak in to the Hokage tower, grab this scroll and get to this place where he said he will pass me once I've done it."

Iruka was now very confused, and very worried. 'There is no such exam, this is completely bogus. This means that Mizuki is a traitor and probably hates Naruto for the Nine-tails. He most likely aims to kill Naruto and escape somewhere with the scroll, or simply place all the blame on Naruto and be hailed a hero to the village... or both...'

"Naruto, Mizuki lied to you. There is no such exam. You need to hand me the scroll and we'll go tell the Hokage the whole thing."

Naruto blinked. "But Iruka-sensei, I..."

"No, Naruto! Don't give Iruka the scroll!" Came the voice of Mizuki. He was up on a tree branch.

"Mizuki! What's the meaning of all this?!" Iruka angrily demanded.

"Ah, Iruka. You were never supposed to know about this little operation." Mizuki said with a condescending sigh. "No, matter. You obviously were successful, Naruto. Very impressive, indeed. Hand it over and we'll call it an exam passed."

"Can't you pass me right now?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I kinda forgot the papers and the stamp back at the academy so we'll have to do it on our way back to return the scroll." Mizuki answered, not really apologetic.

"Naruto, don't listen to Mizuki! He's deceiving you! Give me the scroll and we'll sort out this whole mess." Iruka pleaded.

"Will you pass me if I do?" Naruto asked.

"Enough with this passing business! There's a whole lot more at stake here, Naruto, can't you see that?!" Iruka shouted.

"Do you hear that, Naruto? He's not going to pass you, despite your show of skill. He obviously doesn't like you or care for your prowess as a ninja. Hand over the scroll to me and I'll make your dream of being a Shinobi a reality." Mizuki spoke with a sweet tone.

"Shut up, Mizuki! Naruto, give me that scroll this instant! I'd rather die than allow that traitor to get his hands on our village's most important scroll." Iruka ordered while approaching Naruto with the intent of taking the scroll.

"Hmph. Your meddling ends here, Iruka. I'll take you both out in one FELL SWOOP!" Mizuki shouted as he in the blink of an eye threw several shuriken at Naruto and Iruka.

Iruka deftly dodged the incoming projectiles, as did Naruto. However, Mizuki had not even wasted a second in removing one of the fuma shurikens on his back and threw it right where Naruto was going to be after his dodging maneuver.

Iruka, seeing this, made a dash for Naruto intending to throw himself in the path of the enormous throwing star. As everything seemed to go in slow-motion for him, he already knew it would be too late.

But to both teachers' surprise, Naruto vanished and the shuriken hit the ground with a 'thunk'. Unprepared for this unforeseen development, both teachers merely stood there for a moment, staring flabbergasted at the spot where the Genin-aspirant once laid.

Mizuki recovered first and threw his last fuma shuriken at the still stunned Iruka. For once in his life, Iruka was caught completely with his pants down by such a noisy attack. Before he could even make any attempt at avoiding the attack, a squelching sound was heard. The shuriken had stopped spinning but was still in motion. The next moment, Naruto became visible as he, and the shuriken lodged firmly in his stomach, fell to the ground. Naruto had taken the blow to save Iruka.

Blanching in fear for Naruto, Iruka didn't even take two seconds to snap out of his second stupor in the span of only thirty seconds. He quickly came to Naruto's side and inspected the damage.

"Naruto, Naruto can you hear me, are you alright?" Iruka frantically called his student.

"'Cough, couch' Aaah! Yes, sensei. I, 'gulp' guuh, can hear you just... fine. Ooow. It's not like... nnngh, my ears were hit. As for... being alright, I thought you... aaahh, were the one who taught us to be... observant." Naruto responded painfully. The shuriken was imbedded in his stomach. Iruka was amazed that Naruto was even conscious, given the pain he must be experiencing.

"Hold still, I'll deal with Mizuki and get back to you as soon as I can." Iruka assured before facing Mizuki.

"'Deal with me' he says." Mizuki mocked. "That's rich, Iruka. You never could beat me in a fight."

"Those times weren't fights to the death." Iruka coldly reminded him.

"Oooh, such a scary tone and face your making, Iruka-chan. I think Ebisu's pet hamster would be slightly nervous if it was around." Mizuki taunted as he jumped down to face his friend-turned-enemy.

"Why are you doing all this, Mizuki? It's one thing if you don't like... the spot you were put in but to try and kill Naruto and betray the village?" Iruka demanded.

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit, Iruka! You of all people should be siding with me, considering what he holds!" Mizuki bit back.

"Be silent, Mizuki!" Iruka shouted, but the damage was done.

'What... I hold?' Naruto thought as he tried to bear the pain.

"Make up your mind, Iruka-chan. Either I talk or I shut up." Mizuki mocked as he made a sneering face. Before Iruka could respond to this, Mizuki continued as he got a sinister idea. "Never mind, don't answer. I know just what to say."

Iruka saw where this was going already. "Mizuki, don't!" He screamed as he lunged at his former friend.

Mizuki, expecting this move, easily deflected the lunge and kneed Iruka in the ribs before spin-kicking him in the head, sending him crashing into a tree near Naruto, heavily dazed and unable to make any further moves for a while.

"I bet you caught on to what I said, didn't you, you little monster?" Mizuki spoke with venom at Naruto.

Naruto didn't reply, he tried instead to glare with one eye as the other one was shut tight in his body's attempt to deal with the pain. It did not give off any intimidating effect whatsoever.

"I'll take that as a yes." Mizuki chuckled evilly. "Indeed, you do hold something within you, demon. You know the story we tell in the academy about the day of infamy thirteen years ago?" Naruto kept his one-eyed glare, indicating he was all ears.

"Well, the nine-tailed fox is a being with no corporeal form. It cannot be killed, not by any means we humans possess anyway. Instead, the Fourth Hokage had to resort to sealing it away inside an infant born the day of the attack, making it the demon's new form. That's right, Naruto, YOU ARE THE NINE-TAILED FOX!" Mizuki hollered to the heavens with dark glee before laughing maniacally.

'…'

[Youtube - Naruto Shippuden OST Early Summer Rain]

Naruto was frozen with shock. Memories of when villagers had whispered and talked behind his back, thinking he hadn't heard them. Memories of the beatings, ostracizing, dark looks and mobs that were out for his blood and death before Yokai came and took him away from it all. He even remembered that time, when Yokai saved him, when someone in that mob spoke of their reasons for persecuting him like they did. He didn't understand it back then, nor did he give it much thought afterward since he was so busy with his training. But it was always there, in the back of his mind, waiting to resurface once the subject was brought up someday.

Naruto never thought the reason was something as terrifying and shocking as this.

'I... I'm the nine-tailed d-demon fox?' Naruto finally managed to make a coherent thought. Naruto's emotions were a jumble and were raging within him as he was trying to deal with this revelation. He vaguely noticed that Iruka had managed to regain his senses and was once again engaging Mizuki, this time more level-headed and ready for Mizuki's counters and attacks.

"**No, My son."** Kami suddenly spoke to Naruto.

'Pops?' Naruto, as he closed his eyes, communed with a heavy tone of desperation to Kami.

"**Yes, Naruto-kun. I am here."** Kami replied with a soothing voice.

'Mizuki... Mizuki-teme said...' Naruto tried to say.

"**Mizuki spoke only half-truth, My son. Indeed, what happened all those years ago did take place. However, his conclusions of what that made you is a lie."** Kami said with a reassuring tone.

'So... what "does" that make me?' Naruto wondered.

"**It makes you the jailer of the nine-tailed beast. In human terminology, you are called a 'Jinchuriki', Power of Human Sacrifice. Man has no idea just what that truly means, but it is nevertheless understandable why they would use that for those who are living cages."** Kami told Naruto.

'Wait a second! You knew! All this time you have known about this! How come you never told me?!' Naruto screamed in his mind in anger as he demanded the answer.

"**Because, Naruto-kun, at first you were to young to learn of the truth. A revelation of that magnitude would have crushed your spirit and you would be lost."** Kami told Naruto, His voice clearly saddened.

'You could've helped me and held me together!' Naruto retorted.

"**I could have, but your training would have suffered considerably because you would have been distracted for a very long time because of it. I have foreseen that possibility and I prevented that outcome from happening by keeping it from you. You needed to possess the level of strength you have achieved to this day"** Kami replied.

'What about when I came back to the Leaf? Wasn't I old enough then? Why did it have to be revealed to me now, in this way?!' Naruto asked, not pleased with what he was learning.

"**Yes, you were. But had you learned it from Me or from Yokai-kun your behavior would have changed to the point it would have raised too many questions and caused too many problems. This way, things that need to be kept hidden for now are safe and you still learn of the burden you carry, as it all should be. Besides that, this event needs to happen for other reasons, My son. I know you feel betrayed and hurt by this. It hurts Me as well by leaving you in the dark about it, but it was all necessary for both you and those around you."** Kami told Naruto.

"**I will not apologize to you for it, but I am saddened by it. Believe me when I say that I've wept with you and been with you when you've been angry about what you have endured. Not once in your life have I left you on your own, despite whatever you may have thought about Me." **Kami spoke with Naruto with a firm but not unkind voice.

Shedding tears of anguish, both from physical pain and emotional turmoil, Naruto wept bitterly but with little sound as he could not move much of his stomach muscles to accommodate his need for crying. If one were to look at his face, though, it spoke more than a million words about what he felt.

But Naruto did feel Kami's presence envelop and sooth him and ease his emotional pain. After calming down, he sniffed a bit and refocused his attention back to Him.

'I... should have known that deep down, Pops. The signs were there. I mean, how else could I have gone through all that and this without being crushed completely? Thank You, and I'm sorry.'

"**You have nothing to ask forgiveness for, My son. Your reaction is completely justified and understandable. In fact, you have handled it exceptionally well. Others would have succumbed to the pressure long ago, let alone now when the pressure is the greatest. I'm proud of you, Naruto-kun. The beast inside you remains secure, in spite of all the pressure and anger you have felt over the years."** Kami responded, sounding like a proud father.

[Soundtrack end]

'It reacts to my anger?' Naruto asked.

"**In its current state, that is what Kurama, the nine-tailed fox, reacts to. Its own anger, hatred and malevolence easily resonates with its jailer's. Trauma and shock can also rouse the beast."** Kami informed Naruto.

'You keep referring to it as a "beast", not a demon. Isn't it a demon?' Naruto observed.

[Youtube – Naruto Shippuden OST Senya]

"**No, sonny. None of the tailed beasts are. They are believed to be such by everyone simply because of their size, destructive capabilities, malevolent behavior and their composition and appearance, not to mention their invulnerability to nearly all forms of attacks Man is capable of. They are, however, corrupted by the darkness in the world. They originally were created, by myself, as one single beast that I sent to this world to be its guardian. However, a great evil corrupted it and caused it to lash out at anything and everything around it.**

**I then sent my most trusted and skilled agent to confront it. You know him as the Sage of Six Paths. He defeated it and sealed it inside himself, thus becoming the first of all Jinchuriki in history. But the creature was too immense for any one human to hold, so he came to me for guidance and I split the beast into nine, weaker beasts."**

'There's gotta be more to the story than that.' Naruto noted.

"**Indeed there is, but that's for another time."**

'So, basically they are your pets that came from a big, original pet meant to guard us and they all went ballistic because of some evil?' Naruto summarized.

"**That is the short and crude version, yes."** Kami answered.

'What evil corrupted them?' Naruto wondered.

"**That is also something I will tell some other time, My son. For now, you need to fight."**

[Soundtrack end]

'I'm sorta stuck at the moment, Pops.' Naruto sarcastically commented as he still had the shuriken inside his stomach, thought the pain had dulled a bit by now.

"**My son, who am I?"**

'Kami-sama.' Naruto responded without missing a beat.

"**That I am. And I have promised you to always be with you in your struggles, have I not?**

'Yeah.' Naruto answered.

[Youtube – Naruto Shippuden OST Hidden Will to Fight]

"**Now is such a time for me to empower you for battle, Naruto-kun. This man your sensei, Iruka, is combating is an evil man. He has chosen to take a dark path in life long ago and has chosen to side with one of Konoha's greatest enemies, a man of great darkness. While inside Konoha, he has subverted his fellow teacher Iruka's life, making him far from as happy as he could have been and being more strict than necessary at times, thus affecting more than Iruka himself in the process.**

**You are such an example. The most affected example as a matter of fact, with the culmination being your exam. He has also murdered a comrade in cold blood during a mission, lied about you, knowing full well what you are in reality, in order to further his own and by extension his secret master's goals and right now he's attempting to perform another horrendous act. He has more crimes against Konoha and justice to answer for and I now command you and empower you to fight and defeat him."** Kami stated firmly, further underlining the order He just gave.

'You got it, Pops. I always had a nagging feeling deep in my gut that something was off about the slimy swine. Just help me get rid of this thing and heal my wound and I'll kill the snake.' Naruto acknowledged the order with a quiet growl.

"**No, do not kill him. He still serves a purpose for your village."** Kami corrected Naruto.

'Alright, then.' Naruto replied.

Naruto opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. It seemed like little time had actually passed since Mizuki and Iruka were still going at it without any sign of exhaustion.

"**Now, Naruto. Pull the weapon out."** Kami ordered.

Naruto did as told and gripped the shuriken with his hands, though he could only grab the part of it that had a sharp edge. With a firm resolve, Naruto snarled and pulled the bladed star out of him, earning him cuts in his hands and showing his now gushing stomach wound.

Having faith that Kami would fix him up, Naruto laid back and closed his eyes.

[Soundtrack end]

Minutes earlier, just when Naruto had started his conversation, we find Iruka and Mizuki in a heated debate of both words and metal.

"Mizuki, you fool! Do you realize what you've done?! You've signed your own death-warrant by revealing that to him! And above all, you made it seem he was the fox himself!" Iruka hollered in righteous anger.

"That's because he is, Iruka! The little bastard had this coming for all that he has done against this village. As for my so called death-warrant, no one will know since they will instead learn of the tragic tale of Iruka fighting to the death against the thief, which was none other than the fox brat. 'Course, we both know you are a gutless pet of the Hokage." Mizuki gleefully revealed his scheme to a fuming Iruka, with an added insult to top it off.

Mizuki resumed his ranting. "Of course, I had to avenge you and slay the demon once and for all. Once they hear that, they will hail me as a hero, of which you will of course also get the posthumous honor and have your name signed on the memorial stone."

"Mizuki, Naruto is anything but the fox. He's his complete opposite, can't you see that? Where the fox is malevolent and a being bent on total, mindless destruction anywhere it goes, Naruto at all times has done nothing but his best and tries to be of help to those that need it. Why doesn't that tell you something?"

"As if that isn't just a sign of the fox biding his time before striking when he's strong enough, he's influencing or outright controlling the boy to lull us into a false sense of safety. I wont be fooled by such a low-grade act. Neither should..."

In an attempt to catch Mizuki off guard during his speech, Iruka leaped at Mizuki and tried to stab him. Mizuki barely managed to dodge the strike. Iruka, trying to keep his momentum tried to swipe at his enemy only for Mizuki to parry his kunai with his own.

"Hahaha! Almost had me there. You do seem to have guts after all, Iruka-chan. But guts alone wont give you the power to beat me!" Mizuki taunted his former comrade.

"Maybe not, but skills alone wont win a battle either. The Will of Fire is my village's greatest asset."

"Oh, this again. Are you gonna preach to me about that junk pep-talk like I'm some green academy student?"

"Don't you dare demean the importance of the Will of Fire, it has brought many victories and safeguarded the village for generations!"

"Is that a fact? Then where was the all-encompassing Will of Fire for those that decided to defect the village, huh? Where was the Will of Fire when I was falsely accused of murdering a comrade during an important mission?"

"Those traitors didn't embrace the Will of Fire and abandoned the village in their hearts before going rogue. The village is inhabited and lead by humans, and therefore sometimes mistakes are made, Mizuki. It was a mistake to suspect you like that, but you would have done the same in their shoes."

"So because those traitors didn't embrace the Will of Fire, they were automatically traitors, is that what you're saying!?" Mizuki shouted in anger.

"No, shinobi can be loyal to their village but only to a certain degree without the will. No traitor, however, has ever left the village having the will firmly rooted in their hearts. It's simply a contradiction in itself." Retorted Iruka.

"Pfeh, believe that nonsense if you can't help but doing so, Iruka. I know for a fact that the village can be strong without such weak philosophies. I have been promised power and I wont even have to defend anything in order to get it. You should abandon that good-for-nothing way of thinking and get strong only for yourself. That way you have nothing holding you back from reaching your full potential."

"Mizuki, you idiot! What good does power if you don't have a good cause to use it? How can one reach one's full potential without reaching it with a heart full of compassion?" Iruka shouted at his comrade-turned-traitor. "And who has promised you this power anyway?"

Mizuki chuckled darkly. "Orochimaru-sama has given me his word he has power in store for me once I deliver to him the forbidden scroll and if I destroy the kyuubi brat. Once in my possession, that power will allow me to do anything I desire! Protecting others? What a quaint notion, Iruka. Orochimaru has shown me that protecting the weak is against nature itself! It's called 'Survival of the Fittest' for a reason you weak minded fool! The weak are meant to serve the strong and the strong to RULE the weak. Once Orochimaru's ambitions are achieved, I will have my own realm to rule. HAHAHAHAHAAA!" Mizuki laughed like a crazed madman, which he obviously has become.

"Mizuki, Orochimaru is an evil man, a devious madman that has no obligation to honor his word unless it suits his needs. Do you honestly believe that he will have any further use of you after all this?"

"Oh he will, I will make certain he understands the importance of my skills" Mizuki declared confidently.

"Damn it, Mizuki..." Iruka sighed. He now realized his comrade whom he had worked with for several years was no more, beyond redemption. Perhaps never was to begin with. With a firm resolve in his eyes, Iruka charged Mizuki, intent on defeating him for good.

But Mizuki was correct in the claim that he was superior to Iruka in terms of combat prowess. So after a short but intense battle, Iruka was disarmed and subdued by Mizuki and now held Iruka with a kunai at his throat.

"End of the line, 'old friend'. Got any last words?" Mizuki chuckled darkly.

[Youtube – Shogun 2 OST Sonaiyo]

Instead of an answer from Iruka, the two combatants heard a sudden rumble, it sounded lika a distant but clearly powerful lightning bolt struck but it came from right where they knew Naruto lied trying to cope with the pain. Or that was the case a little while ago. Instead, Naruto was now standing up about 10 meters away from them, the shuriken gone from his belly. His belly was healed completely, to the amazement of the two combatants. Naruto was looking towards the ground, eyes closed and his whole body was shaking like he had an abundance of energy coursing through him and was trying to restrain himself.

Yet another time that night, both ninja were utterly shocked by the sight before them.

After a brief moment, Naruto went completely still. Suddenly Naruto lifted his head to gaze upon the two of them. His blue eyes fixed on Mizuki, who couldn't help but shiver at the sight, as if his eyes were boring into his soul.

"Mizuki." Naruto addressed with a cold voice as he lifted his mask to cover all but his eyes, followed by a flash of pure white in his eyes accompanied by a small, electricity-like crackle. Now this was an intimidating sight, Mizuki had to admit.

"_Let go of Iruka-sensei or you will be in a world of pain._" Naruto's voice came from everywhere at once, despite standing in front of them, in a very eery and ethereal fashion. This was immediately followed by the sound of a loud and slow exhale that was only heard loud and clear by Mizuki.

Gritting his teeth in nervousness and agitation, Mizuki tried to play the tough guy card.

"Like you're in any position to cause me pain, you little runt. You cheap parlor tricks wont cause me to waver." Mizuki spoke, hoping his voice sounded more solid than he was currently feeling. "Come any closer and Iruka will be joining his beloved parents."

"_I am giving you one final chance to surrender, traitor. If you wont, you will have lost your only chance to leave here with any of your bones whole._" Naruto's voice warned.

[Soundtrack end]

Iruka was too shocked, once again, to do anything but stare at the figuratively transformed Naruto. Not that he could do anything at the moment if he wasn't shocked, being Mizuki's hostage and all. The goofy, friendly and promising student that was Naruto had almost completely changed into what Iruka could only describe as the model ninja. Serious, focused, intimidating and deadly, if his threat could be backed up even half-way.

Not only that, but he looked like the first ninjas that came to be in the history of the world. They were masters of concealment, particularly in the shadows, and didn't really use ninjutsu, not as they knew it today anyway. Modern ninjas don't seem to take stealth seriously if their clothing was to be an indication, not as much as in the old day at any rate. There were some that did but they tended to be weaker in offensive capabilities for some reason. Iruka knew for a fact that Naruto's repertoire of jutsu and other skills would make him a truly formidable and diverse shinobi when combined with his stealth skills. The teacher in Iruka had to admit that perhaps the old way of stealth tutoring still held merit even today, despite it being considered obsolete by today's powerhouse mentality.

Shaking himself out of his shock and reverie, Iruka assessed his situation. He was caught in a tight hold by Mizuki. Mizuki was tense and ready for the smallest twitch. A kunai was also at his throat and any violent jolt could cut his skin severely. Iruka was out of options and had to rely on his former student to get him out of this mess.

Mizuki was gritting his teeth to the point a dentist would shiver. A mix of considerable hatred, fear and frustration boiling within him. Despite his claim of the opposite, he was scared of Naruto's 'parlor tricks'. Anything unknown is potentially dangerous, this fact is very true, very often when it comes to jutsu, of which Mizuki was convinced this was.

"If you honestly believe I would give in to your threats and submit, you are even more of a moronic, snot-nosed demon-brat than I thought. I would never do something to utterly idiotic, especially to you. I face life in prison, or execution should I either surrender or be captured. So you tell me, why the hell would I even for one second consider your 'offer'?" Mizuki demanded with a slight readjusting of his kunai on Iruka's throat for emphasis.

Naruto merely looked at Mizuki for a minute before saying, "_I'll take that as a clear 'no'._" Before he made a few quick hand signs, of which neither Iruka nor Mizuki recognized.

"Are you a fool? I'll kill Iruka right here, right now if you don't show yourself! Do you want your teacher to die?!" Mizuki shouted his warning.

Naruto ignored him amd muttered "Ghost Style: Haunting Hunt"

Naruto faded into invisibility for the second time during their confrontation. Before Mizuki could say or do anything to react to this action, he saw a pair of completely white eyes flash out of thin air before fading away once again. Then there was nothing.

Now visibly worried, Mizuki shouted out his defiance. "You've made your choice, demon!"

Mizuki shouted before making the move to slit Iruka's throat, a move he could not make because of an invisible force that held his hand, it felt much like a hand gripping it. The force twisted and Mizuki let go of the kunai as a result. Iruka needed no more to react to this and elbowed his captor in the torso before slipping out of his grasp and put some distance between them.

The grip Mizuki had on his throat was choking, but not completely stopping his breathing. Still, he needed a small while to recover from the nausea he felt from the ordeal. While worried for Naruto, he was immensely curious about his abilities and knew he would see at least a few of them in action.

Mizuki felt the invisible hand let go of him. He wasted no time acquiring a new weapon and took a defensive stand.

"You little shit! Come out and face me like a man!" Mizuki challenged.

[Youtube – Naruto Shippuden OST Emergence of Talents]

Naruto's response came from everywhere once again. "We are ninja, Mizuki-teme. We fight dirty, we fight to win. We do not fight like the Samurai do. Or did you miss that class?"

Mizuki did not like to be mocked. "You're just afraid to face me head on, you don't have the skills to face me in an open fight."

Suddenly he felt the unmistakable feeling of a sharp edge at his own throat, much like how he had Iruka moments earlier.

"You are dead." Naruto whispered breathily. But the killing cut never came, instead it left.

"This proves I am your better with stealth. Now let's see how you do when facing me openly, like you wished."

Naruto appeared in front of Mizuki with his tanto drawn and a kunai in his off hand in a reverse grip, ready for a fight.

Snarling with rage, Mizuki pulled out two kunais, one in each hand and proceeded to engage Naruto in a kenjutsu fight.

While not truly an expert by any means, Naruto was able to meet the strikes of Mizuki quite well. Mizuki had the experience with kunai Naruto lacked, but Naruto was trained with the use of a tanto and a kunai equally, using either hand, and had managed to implement the principle of his Tempered Rampage to his kenjutsu. In other words, Naruto managed to keep pace with Mizuki using unpredictable moves and strikes. Mizuki managed to avoid most swipes outright but had to parry or deflect others. He couldn't understand how a kid like Naruto could keep up with him and be able to move the way he does.

Of course, he lacked the speed and the finesse of his elders, but his irregular style was nothing to sneer at, Mizuki had no choice but to give Naruto that much.

Mizuki was taken by surprise by one of Naruto's moves one too many times and got cut on his leg. Reacting to the pain, Naruto capitalized on Mizuki's distracted state and placed his tanto's blade at his shoulder, the sharp edge facing his throat.

[Soundtrack end]

"That's another win for me. If you give up now, I will not harm you, much." Naruto stated coldly.

"Go to hell!" Mizuki shouted before leaping back and grabbing two handfuls of shuriken and stood at the ready to throw them at Naruto.

"Those wont be enough, you know." Naruto commented idly.

"Enough to kill you, demon." Mizuki growled.

"Demon, demon, demon. You sure have a one track mind." Naruto sighed with irritation.

Surprised by Naruto's rather indifferent response to his revealed status, Mizuki called him out on it.

"Are you not angry or resentful about your fate?"

"At first, I was. But I also got a new understanding with it." Naruto answered calmly.

"Understanding?" Mizuki frowned.

[Youtube – Naruto Shippuden OST Despair]

"Yes. Now I understand why the villagers have treated me the way they have. Being ignorant of the ways of us ninja, they reacted like any human being would against the unknown. They distrusted me, feared me, hated me, even tried to kill me. I had resented them for it, because I didn't know why I supposedly deserved it, nor would anyone tell me. I was angry because I was rarely left alone, nor was I allowed to be with others of my age. I was bitter because of the pains I had to endure as a result of all that." Naruto lamented.

"Now, though, it all becomes clear. They distrusted me because they didn't understand me and the things surrounding me. They feared me and didn't dare get to know me, because of the unknown, mysterious things about me. They hated me because of what was inside me, choosing to believe that I was the same as the one I contain to make the idea easier to deal with. For some, this idea allowed them to go so far as to try and have me killed to rid themselves of the offending presence of the fox that almost destroyed the village and claimed so many lives in the process. Lives of loved ones, the life of our greatest and most revered and loved Hokage so far, The Fourth." Naruto finished with tears, unseen, trailing down his face.

[Soundtrack end]

"They have every right to hate you, as I do!" Mizuki spat. "The Fourth's knowledge of seals was unparallelled, that much cannot be argued. But even he can't hope contain such a creature without some of it leaking out, controlling or influencing its host."

Naruto shook his head sadly as he returned his gaze to Mizuki. "The Fourth wouldn't have done something so half-finished. It would, in the end, only delay the thing. I firmly have faith in the Fourth's sealing skills. You have, by the way, helped me understand the people." Naruto replied.

Mizuki merely frowned in repsonse, so Naruto continued. "If you, who are one of the ninjas of the village, can't see me for who I truly am, and if you can't tell the scroll from the kunai sealed into it, and if you can't understand the workings of seals enough to tell what's what, how can the villagers be expected to understand? For all they know, whatever the Hokage or other ninja's has said about me could have been propaganda to just keep them calm. It has happened before, and not just in the Leaf if our history lessons are to be taken literally, which makes that understandable.

That's why I will now dedicate my life to proving them all that they are wrong about me. To prove to them that I am Uzumaki Naruto, one of them and a proud defender of the village of the Leaf and that I am the living prison of the fox beast, not itself or that I am influenced by its power." Naruto stated with pure determination.

"Lies! You lie to deceive us all!" Mizuki roared but made no move to attack. "You're just waiting for the right time to strike us down and finish what you started!"

[Youtube – Naruto Shippuden OST Confronting]

"If I truly was the fox, I would've done something by now. If I was truly the fox, I wouldn't have let the village stand due to the treatment I got from it. If I was truly the fox, why did you hope I would be upset about your revelation, since I would've known it already?! Were you hoping that the fox would break out of the cage if I got such traumatic news?! Are you insane?!" Naruto shouted back. "Not only would you have killed the village, but yourself! And what's there to say that killing me wont do the same thing? For someone I know to be cautious about the unknown, since you taught us to be cautious, you sure are careless and stupid!"

Mizuki's eyes widened as he could find no fault in Naruto's logic. Had he been so blind to those details in his efforts to rid the village of the fox brat? Had those times he chose not to interfere with mobs chasing young Naruto actually risked not only his life but the whole village? A deep shiver ran down his spine at the thought. But he was still, somehow, unshaken in his belief that Naruto and the fox were as good as the same.

"At this point, what does it matter? I will kill you and run away from the village, safe from the fox's wrath. Now, I'll go all out on you, brat. I'll crush you like an ant under my boot. Come, boy, show me what you got!" Mizuki roared his challenge as he charged.

[Soundtrack end]

"Ghost Style: Haunting Hunt" Naruto muttered while performing the unique seals rapidly. He vanished into thin air before Mizuki could reach him.

Looking around, Mizuki could find no trace of Naruto and was sweating since a target you cannot see is a target you cannot strike at, even if its in front of you since you don't know it's there. Mizuki swiped erratically in fear and moved about in a random pattern in an attempt to stay away from the unseen assailant.

Suddenly, Mizuki felt a rope or string grab hold of his ankle and rapidly pull him up towards the canopy of the trees, Mizuki screaming bloody murder all the way in fright. Once he reached the top, he saw that Naruto was in front of him but appeared upside-down, since Mizuki was so himself. His eyes were unmistakably icy and scary.

"Now to make good on my earlier threat." Naruto stated before his eyes flashed white. Mizuki's screams could be heard far and wide moments later.

After a few minutes, Mizuki, as promised, had not an unbroken bone in his body. Lowering Mizuki to the ground, Naruto made sure not to cause anymore injury or undue pain. His personal punishment was complete anyway, not to mention he didn't want to risk his life since he was supposed to survive for some reason Naruto was unsure of. Kneeling down beside the still conscious, but very pained Mizuki, Naruto spoke to him.

[Youtube – Naruto OST Those Who Inherit the Will of Fire]

"It's funny you should mention ants, Mizuki-teme. You said before that according to nature, the weak should serve the strong? Well, the thing with ants, they don't do that. The drones are the truly strong ones because they tirelessly work to maintain the colony, while the soldier ants keep constant vigil against threats, at the cost of their own lives if the need arises. Such small creatures, yet they can have such a simple but so very efficient setup. You can thank Aburame Shino for this knowledge by the way.

Our society's structure is very similar. We are stronger than the villagers, yes, but they are the reason we are needed, the reason why we are so strong. We have to be in order to protect those that are precious to us, even at the cost of our own lives. Like Iruka spoke before, the Will of Fire. It is the thing that makes us so resilient and powerful as a village. You chose to rebel against all this. And rebellion cannot be tolerated or our way of life can't go on."

As Naruto rose back up, he heard something nearby and turned to it. He spotted Iruka, who had been joined by the Hokage and two ANBU.

"Well done and very well spoken, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke with a warm and proud smile. The ANBU nodded in agreement. Iruka grinned happily, proud of his former student. Or was he?

"Hokage-sama. I need to tell you something about what has transpired." Iruka said as he turned to face his leader.

The aged leader raised his hand to halt any further statement. "There is no need, Iruka-san. I have known from the beginning."

"What? How?"

"When the teme arrived and interrupted us, I was about to tell you that I already knew of his plans and wasn't fooled by this, so called, 'optional exam'. Right after he had approached me about it, which I played along with, I left the academy, using several kage bunshin to throw off my friends, who would no doubt come look for me. I needed to do that because I needed to focus on what was ahead. One of the clones doubled as a messenger who ran to jiji and told him everything. Once jiji and my clone agreed upon a plan, I received the memories of the clone and everything went as planned. The only snag we hit was you, Iruka-sensei. It caused the plan to be scrapped and I had to wing it as we went."

"So you mean..." Iruka said.

"Yes, Mizuki was supposed to have accepted the scroll, that's when I would have given a signal in the form of a shadow clone running for jiji while I kept Mizuki busy, as he no doubt would have attacked me. The plan was for Mizuki to spit out what his plan was during the fight as a way of taunting and daunting me into losing heart and such crap. No one suspected he would go so far as to reveal the secret of me being the fox's jinchuriki though, least of all me." Naruto said.

[Soundtrack end]

"Yes, about that Naruto..." The Hokage began.

"Don't worry, jiji. We'll talk later about that. Where was I? Oh yeah! That clone I had hiding in the foliage instead ended up being used, to start with, as a sneak attacker to free Iruka-sensei when I and Mizuki started to fight. What he didn't notice at all was that it was a clone, and when I started to fight him openly, the clone could go back to its original mission, to get jiji."

Iruka then had to address the issue of, "Your injury! How is it?"

"Oh, it's fine. I've always had this amazing healing ability and I've had worse, believe it or not."

"**However, I wasn't the one to heal you, Naruto-kun. That was all Kurama's doing since he preserves his own life by preserving yours."** Kami put in, unheard by everyone else.

'Ok, good to know where that comes from. Thanks for the heads-up, Pops.' Naruto thought in response.

[Youtube – Naruto OST Victory]

"Well, Naruto-kun. It is with great pleasure that I declare that your first mission as a Genin of Konohagakure is accomplished." The Hokage announced. "Furthermore, for showing great courage, skill, heroism in protecting Iruka from a deadly fuma shuriken and managing to keep a clear and level head under great duress, pain and pressure, even under mission altering changes, I hereby promote you to Tokubetsu Genin. We will discuss the details tomorrow in my office." The Hokage added.

Naruto's elation could not be held in, he jumped for joy and ran around like any child his age would do at such level of news. Making flips, back-flips and dancing childishly, it was a sight to see for the aged Hokage who chuckled merrily and the rest laughed heartily.

[Soundtrack end]

"Sir," Iruka spoke. "Naruto has yet to create a regular bunshin. He can't graduate unless..:"

"Iruka-san, that's enough." The Hokage interrupted. "Naruto's condition as the Jinchuriki grants him an incredibly large reserve from which to fuel his jutsus, but as a side effect, he is virtually unable to handle jutsus that require fine tuning, at least not without extensive practice with control exercises. I've allowed a special case for Naruto by disregarding the inability to create bunshins. You could basically say that Naruto's case makes him a mirror situation to that of Rock Lee last year. Here, Naruto's 'handicap' is his difficulty to reach finer control levels. You should be aware of this Iruka."

Iruka rubbed the back of his head in shame. "I'm sorry, lord Hokage. I knew that his status as a Jinchuriki allowed him larger reserves, but I assumed it didn't mean it was enough to cause that much of a problem. Though, in my defense, I don't think I have enough access to restricted information to learn the extent of his problem since I'm only a Chunin."

"Perhaps, Iruka, but you could always have brought this to my attention and asked instead of leaving it as is." Hiruzen responded with a slight frown of disapproval, causing Iruka to shrink a bit in shame.

Putting a comforting hand on the Chunin's shoulder, Sarutobi smiled and said "Now, let's all return to..."

"Hokage-sama. There's someone else here." One of the ANBU whispered while subtly getting ready.

'So it wasn't my imagination.' Naruto thought, since he was close enough to hear it.

Nodding, the Hokage turned in the direction of the presence he and his ANBU felt.

"Come out now, or we will come after you!" The Hokage commanded.

Out came a group of...

"No..." Naruto whispered in shock and fear.

… newly graduated Genin.


	35. Shock & Awe

Chapter 34: Shock & Awe

All of the newly graduated Genin had separated and left for their own homes. As they had planned, they went about their day as they awaited word from Shino.

None of them could go about their business without worrying in various ways and degrees about Naruto. It wouldn't have been as troubling had Naruto merely went off to sulk a bit, but the manner in which he meticulously made certain no one could find him was nothing short of shocking, not to mention that it hurt all of them a bit that Naruto didn't seem to trust them enough to confide in them with his problems.

Even Shikamaru shared that sentiment. Though just about anything and everything, save cloud watching and napping, was troublesome in various ways and degrees, helping out one's friends was never too troublesome for a Nara. They were lazy shinobi, but they were loyal, lazy shinobi.

Shino was, of course, troubled by Naruto's behavior. While he had the least amount of hurt out of the rookies from not being confided in by the blonde, he instead was disturbed by the illogical move that Naruto made. While unpredictable and seemingly illogical in many of his actions initially, it always turned out to be quite clever and logical. To coin a phrase usually used by Kiba; hindsight is 20/20.

But he had a hard time to figure out the point of Naruto's latest stunt. While still unpredictable overall, there was a logical pattern to his unpredictability, or so Shino believed he was starting to discern. But this was a whole new level of unpredictable. And for a clan of shinobi, whom Shino was a proud member of, who prided themselves in the almost religious adherence to logic and sensibility, it is an irritation to not understand something that is believed to be within reasonable reach of comprehension.

Shino found himself quite frustrated as any attempts during the day to figure out the possible cause for Naruto's failure of the exam and subsequent evasion of his comrades resulted in no additional insight. Shino was one of the friends of Naruto who knew in detail how skilled and sharp Naruto was as a student, despite his goofy mannerisms. So Naruto failing was a preposterous notion, and yet he did.

Shino was not, by any stretch of the imagination, an inattentive boy, so it is unsurprising that he had not failed to notice the discrimination from not just students, but teachers and villagers as well. He had at least come to the conclusion that it was possible Naruto was sabotaged or given a test in something he was known to not be able to perform. But all of them were given identical tests throughout the exam.

Little did Shino know of Naruto's mark of shame, the bunshin.

With baited breath, for an Aburame at any rate, Shino awaited the return of his kikaichu he had sent to locate the lost comrade.

Sasuke was brooding. But this day he was not brooding about how to avenge his clan. He was brooding because one of his friends is going through something painful, if Naruto's avoidance was anything to go by. Sasuke was no stranger to pain of the heart or mind due to the experience of his clan's annihilation by his brother's hand, right before his eyes.

But now it was not his brother that was the center of his usually dark thoughts. Now it was his close friend and de-facto savior from his own brother's murderous hand. Sasuke was too proud a boy to admit this to Naruto, much less anyone else, but he owed Naruto a debt of gratitude he wasn't sure he could ever repay. Though for an Uchiha to be indebted in any shape or form was considered shameful, a disgrace to the Uchiha name, Sasuke was of a different opinion. This was helped by the fact that Fugaku never got around to instill all of his views on his youngest son, indebtedness being one of the forcibly skipped "lessons".

As it was, Sasuke would not stand for Naruto being in pain any longer than necessary if he had any say in the matter. While curious as to why Naruto failed, it wasn't on the top of his worry-list. That would be answered soon enough anyway.

Now if only those bugs could get a move on finding his dobe of a classmate.

Kiba was pacing in his room, too agitated to stay calm and too upset to stay still or doing something that would require his focused attention. Naruto failing was just ridiculous, there was absolutely no way someone who rivaled his sense of smell and hearing, was his equal in their sense of honor and loyalty and one who most definitely could best him in sparring sessions and weapon and trap handling could fail an exam he, himself, could do without any real difficulty. It just wasn't possible!

But he had failed. How could that be?! What could Naruto not do that Kiba could? To his knowledge there was nothing. He idly considered that he hasn't actually seen Naruto do the Kawarimi or the bunshin, but figured that those were just laughably easy that it was immediately discarded as a possible reason for failure.

Growling lowly to himself while Akamaru laid comfortably on his bed, observing his master with concern. Akamaru knew that one of the extended pack members, the one called Naruto, is in some form of trouble and is not findable right now. While that left Akamaru with an unsettled mood, his main concern right now is for his master, who was wearing down the floor and the sole mat in the room. Master Kiba was much more restless since he was closer to the extended pack member. Akamaru knew by instinct that would shake himself as well if Master Kiba was lost somehow, or any of his blood pack within the human lair they dwell within for that matter.

In an attempt to calm his master down some, Akamaru yipped in a positive tone. Kiba returned a dampened smile.

"Thanks, boy. I know we'll hear from Shino soon. I just wish I could be part of the search. Anything is better than to be cooped up in here while there's a pack-friend in need out there." Kiba answered his canine companion.

Akamaru yipped and jumped down to run around Kiba's feet barking in a distinctly upbeat manner.

Kiba pouted in thought, though that didn't last long. "Yeah, that's a good idea I suppose, let's go ask mom."

And they went to ask Tsume Inuzuka if she would help them hone their skills as trackers. It was their hope that the next time something like this happens, they would be more prepared to help.

Chouji ate slowly.

He never ate slowly. Scratch that, Akimichis don't eat slowly.

It was, for Akimichis, a serious point of concern when a member has lost their appetite. After all, with their special metabolism and how they tap into their fat reserves in addition to the regular reserves when performing their clan jutsu, it was important to eat a "healthy" amount of food. From an outsider's viewpoint, that would be a rather gross amount.

There's a running joke that an Akimichi eats once a day... from dawn till dusk.

But for an Akimichi to have lost their appetite, or to not be in the mood to eat, it was worrying. For his parents, it was disheartening to see Chouji so down.

"Chouji-kun, what is the matter? Is the food not tasty?" His, only slightly (no, really), rotund mother asked with loving concern.

"No, mom. It's as good as always." Chouji tried to respond in his usual, jovial tone. It did not match his eyes, which still had that far away look.

"Son, something has you worried." Choza stated, his tone upbeat but dampened slightly from the usually jovial mood the large man almost constantly was in. "Worried enough to not eat with the usual Akimichi gusto. Please, tell us what troubles you."

Chouji took a moment to gather his thoughts before telling them of Naruto's failure and how he made a point not to be found by his friends.

The Akimichi's was not a clan that were swayed by the various rumors of the village. A common motto for Akimichis was "An Akimichi should not reject something till they have tried it." Usually this applies to food, unsurprisingly. But they have also applied this to just about all other aspects of life, including the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. In short, they have long ago seen for themselves that Naruto was just as good a kid as the next one, at the very least.

Thus they have no animosity towards him. If anything, they have come to greatly respect the boy since he and their son got along famously, something they are grateful to him for since Chouji had at one time had difficulty making friends because of his girth. Considering how Naruto was treated before his disappearance and, to a slightly lesser extent, after he returned, they were impressed he didn't become a bitter, vengeful and spiteful boy.

Hearing that the bright boy whom Chouji respected for his personality as well as skills and dedication had failed the exam was shocking. They never once considered that he would not pass the exam from the stories that they have heard not just from Chouji, but also from Shikamaru and Ino when they came to visit with their parents.

"That is indeed odd, Chouji-kun. But I am certain Naruto will talk to you when he's ready." Choko, Choza's wife, consoled her son.

"I'm just... hurt that he doesn't trust us, his friends, to be there when he needs it. We wouldn't have looked down on him even if he failed the exam, I know I wouldn't." Chouji admitted dejectedly, a small bit of anger slipped out too.

"I understand, son. But none of us can truly know how Naruto-san would take a failure of this kind. For boys your age, this must feel like the biggest disappointment in your life and such a state of mind can make people do the most rash of actions depending on their personality. If I were to venture a guess, Naruto-san simply needs time to digest (another favorite word of Akimichis) the turn of events before coming to his friends. Do not be angry or fault him for that." Choza sagely lectured his only son.

"Yes, dad." Chouji agreed. While somewhat reassured, Chouji's appetite and consuming speed was only marginally improved.

Ino was laying on her purple bed, still wearing her purple outfit, hugging her purple pillow, trying to think of something else than her worries, like if Naruto-kun liked the color purple.

'*Sigh*! I'm thinking of Naruto-kun again.' She reprimanded herself.

Just like all the other friends of Naruto, she was worried for him. She had no doubt in her mind that Naruto would pass the exam with flying colors. The shock she experienced when she learned the opposite went right down to her core. There was no way someone as strong as Naruto-kun could have messed up the exam, even if it was their toughest challenge to date.

While she was a girl who liked to daydream that Naruto-kun would notice her and lavish her with romantic, caring attention, she was under no illusion that she would have been someone Naruto would turn to when he was in need, like he without a doubt was now.

Which greatly saddened her. She had started to take her training seriously after overhearing that talk the boys had back then. While she never really learned what Naruto wanted in a girl, she was convinced that Naruto would appreciate a girl who took her role as a kunoichi seriously, just like Sasuke had said.

She silently cursed that she had realized this aspect of her love interests so late. If she had been serious from the start maybe Naruto-kun or Sasuke-kun had taken notice of her and she would have been with either of them right now. At the very least, Naruto-kun might have confided in her. Oh, who was she trying to kid?

Naruto didn't go to even his closest friends; Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, Shino, Sasuke or even Chouji. Why would he come to her? She was the crowned gossip queen (under dispute still) of her age group and used to belong to the group of the most shallow girls until her eye-opener, not to mention she has barely spoken more than thirty words at a time to Naruto even after his chivalrous actions outside the hospital.

She realized then that it was because of her own indecision on what to do that put her in this situation. Well, she knew that Forehead was still a die-hard fan-girl for Sasuke, even though she followed the same path as Ino in terms of improving herself. So if ever there was a decent fan-girl, Sakura would at least not be too far away from that.

Ino decided then and there that it would be better for her to let Sakura pursue Sasuke while she, herself, would try to gain Naruto's attention. That way she would still, hopefully, get someone she liked and she would completely get her best friend back instead of constantly competing with her. While it was fun at times, it was starting to grate on her nerves a bit.

All that remained now was to decide how to approach Naruto. Speaking of which, where could Naruto have gone?

'Gah! I'm thinking about him AGAIN!' She realized as she screamed in frustration into her pillow.

Sakura was... well, not in the same boat as Ino, but she was in the one close by. She was worried for Naruto but not to the extent that Ino was. Not that either thought about that fact.

Sakura had come to realize that there was more to Naruto than meets the eye, and more than the rumors made him out to be. Beyond that, Sakura hadn't really thought that much. At the very least, she wanted to be friends with him, but that hasn't happened since she has tried to avoid her mother's wrath and kept her distance from him, unwillingly.

She liked Naruto, but not in a romantic sense. That was reserved for Sasuke-kun. But Naruto was still worthy of being a part of her circle of friends. She planned that once they start going out on missions and they happen to work together, or if she and he got into a team together, she would make an effort to get to know him better since her mother couldn't control what happens during missions, nor would she need to ever know that.

Sakura had started to lose her respect for her mother due to her narrow mindedness, senseless bigotry and even malice. Her love for her mother was unchanged, but the respect was not what is once was.

It dropped even lower once she witnessed her reaction to the news that Naruto had failed the exams. He utter glee and elation she beheld upon her mother's face was sickening. To take such satisfaction in another's misery disturbed Sakura considerably.

Being one of the brightest students of her year, Sakura had the same quirk that Shikamaru and Shino possessed. She had to understand something that caught her interest, to figure out something that was inexplicable. Naruto's failure was one such thing, his evasion of his friends was, to a lesser degree, also one, though she surmised that it was most likely Naruto's own shock that drove him to such action.

No, it was his failure that made no sense to her. She had kept enough of her attention on the mysterious blonde to know where he stood in skill, cunning and intelligence. According to her exceptional analytical ability, she quickly deduced that Naruto would have surely aced the entire obstacle course, or at least come close to it. Which left the small jutsu tests.

She knew he could do the kawarimi as she had once witnessed him perform it flawlessly. At another time she, along with the entire class saw him transform into Iruka without any deviating details. So that was out. That left only the bunshin. She had never seen him do it, at all.

She had come to suspect that Naruto had larger reserves than the average male genin. By how much she had no qualified guess. She was aware, though, that if they were big enough, the sheer amount would actually put a strain on the control when it came to precision jutsus. She had figured that out due to the fact everyone was taught that girls usually have superior control to start with because of their lesser reserves while boys tended to have larger reserves but lesser control of it. All she had to do was apply the principle of reserve contra control in a wider context.

Bunshin no jutsu was a precision jutsu. Since the "body" being made was, in essence, a fragile mirage, it could not take any kind of overload or it would simply collapse in a heap of tangible mess. Too little and the body would not even form at all.

She could safely assume that Naruto had not given it too little. It was almost invariably the other way around for those with larger reserves. What puzzled her was that, if her assumption was correct, then it would mean either Naruto slacked off or he had so much he couldn't get a handle on the bunshin even after all the time he had, undoubtedly, worked on it.

The first one didn't fit with Naruto's plain-as-day work ethic, which only left the one thing remaining. Naruto had a huge reserve to draw upon, enough to disrupt his control over precision jutsus like the bunshin.

This conclusion was intriguing, to say the least. While it was a fantastical explanation, it was nonetheless the only one she could come up with. This sparked her curiosity of the boy even more, so she vowed to find out more about not only Naruto as a person, but also if her conclusion was correct.

That is, once Naruto has been located.

Hinata was possibly the one that was the most worried of them all. Her crush was missing, not only that, he had somehow failed the exam. She just couldn't fathom the reality of the situation. Naruto-kun was an amazing ninja in her eyes, long before the actual graduation. Strong enough to save her from certain doom. He also had a keen mind when it came to anything shinobi related. He had a boy's body, but it was still very honed for someone of his age, able to handle anything within a genin's range of duties that required either flexibility, strength, speed or quick reflexes. So she knew that Naruto-kun could not have possibly lost to the obstacle course. She also knew he knew the kawarimi and henge no jutsu by heart. But she did recall him having reluctance in performing the bunshin while she was around him.

'Could it be that Naruto-kun had trouble with it?' Hinata mused. Even the most talented ninja could have the most unexpected problems in certain areas. Many had the common problem of not understanding the concept of genjutsu, at least not enough to perform them themselves. Most could dispel simple ones without much trouble.

'Perhaps Naruto-kun's problem lies with bunshin creation?' Hinata suggested to herself. 'And he didn't want to let me know because he was embarrassed?' She then realized with a small gasp.

'Poor Naruto-kun. You could have told me. I would not have though any less of you, not in the least.' Hinata thought with a faraway look as she gazed out her room's window. 'I would have been delighted to help you overcome the problem.'

It was common knowledge that if you could not perform the bunshin adequately then your score was severely reduced since it was seen as an accurate indication of lack of discipline in control refinement. It has never been heard of that bunshin could possibly be a skill beyond learning for those who could do everything else in the curriculum.

As Hinata was silently shedding tears and aching due to her crush's need to distance himself because of his feelings of shame, and her own desire to be near him when he needed comfort himself for once, a small creature had flown into her room and landed on her black t-shirt.

Hinata suddenly heard a familiar buzzing sound coming from her shoulder. The insect there then flew and landed with enough force to allow Hinata to feel its presence on her forehead. She put her finger carefully on it to let the insect climb onto her delicate hand. After seeing that it was indeed one of Shino's kikaichu beetles, Hinata politely thanked the little creature for alerting her and went to the agreed upon meeting point in the village square.

The same has happened all around the village in the homes of the new Genin. Though some, like Ino and Sakura, were initially frightened by the bugs' attempts to gain their attention and were creeped out by them, but nonetheless went when they realized the insects were in fact the ones Shino would send once he learned something.

It was already dark, with midnight almost upon them. But that didn't deter anyone of the assembled friends from getting to the bottom of things.

"Well, here we are." Shikamaru stated the obvious, but with a serious expression as opposed to his normally lazy and uninterested one.

"Watcha got, bug boy?" Kiba asked Shino. Said boy had gotten used to the antics of Kiba and accepted the various nicknames he had for him as friendly addresses. Without missing a beat, Shino relayed his news.

"My insects have located Naruto-san moving towards the Hokage tower. But they failed to land on him before he entered. He was inside between half an hour to forty minutes before he exited the building, running at top speed towards the forest west of the village."

The entire group were perplexed.

"What? What could he possibly had done in there this late in the evening? No one works there but the guards on duty." Sasuke asked the question everyone had on their minds.

"That I cannot say. My bugs were instructed to find Naruto and plant a female on his person, not find out what he was doing. Hence they did nothing but that. Had I known this strange turn of events, I would have added the command to observe him more closely."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed. "Perhaps commanding your small friends to always watch targets' actions in addition to anything else will be standard procedure from now on, Shino?" Shikamaru suggested, to which Shino nodded in agreement.

"Enough with the bugs already, what about Naruto?" Ino interjected, slightly miffed with the boy's inability to stay on task.

"As I have stated, Naruto ran towards the forest west of here." Shino restated neutrally.

"Do your kikaichu have a fix on the female bug's scent?" Sakura queried.

"Indeed, we should find him without fail within the hour." Shino replied.

"Then let's not keep our unaware buddy waiting." Kiba grinned in anticipation of the closure of this trying day.

Hinata led the charge as she was the first one to run in the indicated direction with everyone else following close behind. A large group of Genin like this of course did not go unnoticed by the village's patroling guards. However, it wasn't uncommon for newly graduated Genin to play around during the night hours in a sort of celebration for their graduation from the academy and from childhood. Well, a part of their childhood at any rate.

Hence they were left alone unless they were causing a disturbance warranting intervention.

As Shino had calculated, they located Naruto after only 47 minutes, with additional help from Hinata's Byakugan. However, it was a strange sight Hinata came across. Naruto was studying a large scroll. Before anyone could jump out to get answers from Naruto, Shikamaru gave a hand sign they all had learned meant 'Stop'. He further signed that he recognized the scroll's description as being the village's scroll of high level to forbidden jutsus. This caused a silent uproar of hand signs from the majority of the group, the rest were just too surprised to do anything.

While it was troublesome, Shikamaru was able to read all signs simultaneously.

'What?! That's not possible, it's under very high security!' Sasuke signed with unintended emphasis due to his agitated state.

'Why would Naruto go for that scroll? Forget that, HOW could he even grab it? It's got to be something else.' Kiba signed.

'I will be the first to admit Naruto is good, but good enough to steal "that" scroll? I am having difficulties seeing the logic.' Shino signed as calmly as his vocal response would have been.

Shikamaru held his hand up to halt any further inaudible protests before signing his reasons.

'There's no doubt about this, guys. That is THE scroll. Not only has my dad told me about it and how it looks, I've also seen it once when I was younger when I and my dad went to see the Hokage about something I don't remember. I have no idea how, or why, Naruto's gotten it, but he has. This changes everything.' He signed, not taking his eyes from Naruto who was in the distance in a minor clearing.

Before anyone could ask just how it did, he continued as he knew the question would automatically follow.

'Think about it, at this late hour, Naruto goes to the Hokage tower, then leaves it in a hurry to study this large scroll in peace way out here. This makes me believe he snuck in there and stole it somehow. No one, not even the Hokage, would just hand over the forbidden scroll to a Genin aspirant if asked, even if the Hokage and Naruto are close.'

Before the protests could make themselves known, Shikamaru went on.

'We all know that Naruto failed the exam, unfair as it was since he's in the top 5 students. While I know nothing of how Naruto would react to such an event, it stands within reason he might have been so desperate to fix it by learning something powerful to make the teachers' verdict moot.'

This time, Hinata decided to defend her crush.

'Naruto-kun wouldn't commit crimes to advance himself!' There was a visible indignation in her hands' movements, but one would have an easier time finding it on her face.

But Sakura responded this time.

'Hinata, while you know him better than most, you don't know Naruto well enough to judge whether he would or not. He hasn't gone through something as trying as this before. There is a first time for everything.'

'I disagree.' Chouji added his thoughts for the first time in a while. 'Naruto is a guy who values integrity and loyalty, even Kiba has said more than once how his sense of loyalty rivals the mentality of the Inuzuka. I have a gut feeling there's something more going on than what we can see.'

Kiba added a 'Yeah!' with a big grin.

'My thoughts exactly, Chouji.' Shikamaru replied with a smile. 'I was going to say that it was one possible explanation to all this. A second explanation I could think of with available information is that the Hokage gave him permission to learn something and pass that way, as I said, we all know how close the two are. But the problems are that it doesn't explain why he had to go way out here for it, and the fact the Hokage isn't normally working at this hour.'

'I thought you said he wouldn't hand the scroll over?' Ino asked.

'Yes, but I said it in a context of Naruto merely going in there and asking for it out of the blue. This theory involves Naruto explaining his situation.'

'But the Hokage can't show favoritism to anyone, no matter how close. I don't think even his grandson, Konohamaru would get any special treatment.' Sasuke signed with a thoughtful face.

'That's where you're wrong, Sasuke.' Kiba cut in. 'Me and Akamaru here have on more than one occasion seen the little brat with a Jounin sensei, getting early training in. Not to mention the little runt constantly tries to run and hide from him and generally making his days a nightmare.'

'That's not favoritism, that's common sense.' Ino commented. 'Hokage-sama is the Hokage and has very little time to spend with his family, his grandson included. Konohamaru's uncle, Asuma, is a skilled Jounin who is constantly desired for high-ranking missions. Outside of them, there's few clan members left, none of them being active shinobi. Hokage-sama has to resort to a private tutor.'

'Besides,' Sakura added. 'Naruto had his teacher train him while being on that trip outside the village, that's not favoritism either, or should clan training from early age start being forbidden too?'

'We're getting off topic.' Shikamaru managed to gain their attention. 'There's also the possibility that Naruto's teacher, Yokai-san, has requested a special exam for Naruto, giving him another chance to graduate, hence this.' He finished with an indicative gesture towards the still studying Naruto. 'After all, there was that special case with that guy from the earlier class. Rock Lee, I think his name was. Anyway, he got special treatment due to a handicap, and he got it because of a Jounin who wanted to take him on as a student, despite, or maybe even because of his handicap.'

Everyone had to admit that it was possible. No one believed, or wanted to believe, that Naruto would turn traitor or become an untrustworthy comrade.

Once again gaining their attention, Shikamaru signed.

'So, with all this is mind. Let's hide here and wait and see what happens. Do not make a sound no matter what until I give the signal.'

'Who died and made you boss?' Kiba challenged, only to receive a bonk to the head from Sakura.

'You idiot! This is not the time to argue about that.' She signed angrily with a mad face, causing Kiba to tremble for a second at her intimidating visage while rubbing the small lump on his head.

'Besides, Shikamaru is the smartest of us when it comes to tactics and strategy. It makes sense he should take charge for now.' Ino signed firmly. She knew better than most of Shikamaru's intelligence and quick thinking, with her clan being close allies with his clan and the Akimichis and all.

'I concur, I accept Shikamaru as temporary leader for this impromptu, self-assigned mission.' Shino approved.

'As do I.' Sasuke agreed.

'Me too.' Chouji agreed as well.

'Me three.' Ino managed to chirp in her hand signing. No one knows how she's able to do that.

'Same here.' Sakura added.

Seeing that everyone were fine with it, Kiba shrugged and signed. 'Sure, OK I guess.'

'What will we do once things unfold, Shikamaru-kun?' Hinata questioned, which also clearly showed her agreement with said boy's leadership.

'I have no idea, but leave the thinking and decision making to me. Until I give the signal, don't make yourselves known in any way, that would make things become a colossal drag.'

With nothing further needed to be conveyed, everyone's hands finally got some rest.

They all noticed that Naruto had seemingly heard something, he then quickly rolled the scroll closed before facing the direction of the sound's source. Shikamaru gestured for them all to follow him but staying low and without sound. They all took up various hidden positions, all within hearing distance. They were seeing and hearing, but weren't seen nor heard in return.

The graduates all witnessed Iruka, their former head-teacher, emerging from the foliage and listened closely to the argument that followed the confrontation.

If there was any doubt to Naruto failing, it was squashed the second Iruka and Naruto's argument went into the questionable flunking Iruka had done to Naruto. None of them could see any fault in Naruto's logic, they were none too surprised either when Naruto mentioned the very example Shikamaru used with Rock Lee of the, now former, senior class immediately above their own.

But some of them were surprised by Naruto's claim of having larger than normal reserves. Enough to put a serious dent on Naruto's ability in learning precision control. Those surprised by this weren't aware of Naruto's predicament, but at the same time it explained in what Naruto failed, the bunshin.

Shino mentally kicked himself for not noticing such a detail. It was staring him in the face all this time and he never considered this possibility. He knew Naruto had above average reserves, although he never saw any indication of it being a detriment for Naruto. But despite that, the amount alone should have caused his Aburame Logic-Sense to buzz and consequently come to this theory long before his insects reported Naruto's position.

Sakura would have been pleased to have been proven correct if the situation wasn't so sad and she wasn't so concerned and attentive at the moment. She intended to learn all she could before pondering anything further or she could miss important details by letting her thoughts wander.

Ino now realized Naruto's problem and instantly felt sorry for him. It was such a stupid reason to be flunked. Her respect for the academy and it's system went down a notch.

But she also felt pride in her, hoped-for, future boyfriend's reserve size. It meant one could fight longer and not start to worry as early as others about running out of gas. It also meant one could learn more taxing jutsus earlier than most. While shallow, to an extent, Ino was not so shallow to fall in love with power. But as a kunoichi, she definitely appreciated strength and skill. This just brought even more icing to the proverbial cake called Uzumaki Naruto.

Hinata was not really surprised. She had already suspected that the bunshin no jutsu was the cause for Naruto's failure. What she didn't have a clue about was why it was. Her Byakugan was developing, but she wasn't advanced enough to gauge someone's reserve size by observing their networks. She knew Naruto's network was bright and strongly pulsating, indicating it was fairly big for his age when she compared to his and her peers who had azure blue and mildly pulsating.

She had asked her father regarding this and he merely answered her by saying that some students, through genes, had access to larger amounts. When asked if Naruto was from a clan, he had responded with:

"Everyone is from a clan, daughter. Whether they are prominent or not is another matter. But even civilians can birth a child which, with the right ancestry, possesses genes that, when combined, evolve themselves to form a unique product resulting in future advantages or disadvantages. Some evolve into bloodlines and thus prominent clans while others level out in mediocrity and finally some die out and never rise to any level of prominence."

Hinata now realized that Naruto's advantage was, in some cases, also his disadvantage. While he had little to worry about in the ninjutsu-fuel department, he had distinctly more to worry about when it came to controlling this fuel. But that can always be helped. And helping her crush was something Hinata would love to do, anything to become closer to her crush and hero.

Sasuke was frozen in utter disbelief. This was what had Naruto fail the exam? The pure ridiculousness of the cause made Sasuke question whether he should really put any weight to the values that the academy teaches. For a village that prides itself in the Will of Fire and strength of unity, it sure failed miserably in the application when it came to Naruto.

He had the strengths and skills to ace the exam, just like he and the others did. But because of this obviously minor flaw, in relation to the cause of the flaw, it was all sent straight out the window. A great future asset to the village basically discarded for having a fault. A fault that can be fixed if given the chance. Sasuke's view of the Will of Fire just took a blow. It would seem the Will of Fire disregards those who have large enough faults, or at least believed to have considerable faults. If there was something Sasuke absolutely despised, it was hypocrisy.

If rules could be bended or broken in order to uphold the principle that the Will of Fire represents, like abandoning a mission to spare the lives of comrades, then why couldn't rules be bended or broken when a rare case, like Naruto's, where a very promising student has a flaw due to a side effect of having too large reserves fails due to that flaw alone? The requirements should have been altered to fit the situation in Sasuke's opinion.

Chouji was of the opinion that Naruto's abilities and endurance far outweighs the necessity for control, at least when it comes to such a minor jutsu like bunshin. Surely there's got to be something that outdoes bunshin in combat value? The Akimichi's expansion jutsu is used for brutal overpowering of the enemy rather than precision strikes. They are therefore put in missions where such abilities are needed most. There was little doubt in his mind that something similar could be applied for Naruto.

Kiba was utterly surprised and confused, never would he have suspected that Naruto's failure would be something as simple as the bunshin. However, listening to the reasoning, he came to understand how it came to be. Nevertheless, he was angry at the injustice of it all. He was familiar with the terms; lacking, weaknesses and shortcomings. Why is that? Because it is taught early in his clan that everyone has flaws, and that is what a team is for, to cover each others' flaws and augment their strengths.

Why it was taught so early instead of letting that be learned the academy or when the teams are actually formed is because the children of the Inuzuka get their lifelong companions at a young age and must be familiar with this as a part of the bonding process. That way, they are more intimately aware of their companions' flaws so that they can cover that and vice versa.

With all that in mind, he thought it was completely unjustified. This was exactly what a team, not to mention the future sensei, was supposed to deal with, together. Heck, as far as he was concerned, Naruto's flaw was next to nothing and he was going to be the greatest asset in the team he would be put in, aside from the Jounin of course.

Shikamaru was frowning in deep thought while still being able to take everything in. It was not a clan ability on its own, but this trait seemed to be a common occurrence in any Nara, to be able to formulate theories or plans while still being all attentive.

He had been dismayed by the petty reason for flunking Naruto, especially when compared to all the great traits that Naruto possessed. The gain with Naruto's passing the exam would have far outweighed the drawback the supposed flaw Iruka mentioned would have brought. If the system was like this, he shuddered to think the possible amount of potential Genin that never came to be because of this elitist thinking. While crappy students were to be failed, students with potential but has one or two faults should still be given the chance to advance.

Shikamaru never considered the way the academy's exam was set up. He was partially blinded by the admittedly challenging obstacle course and by his own laziness to notice that the ninjutsu test was so full of holes in logic, reducing the overall effect of the exam when considering what it is meant to do; sort out those unfit for Genin status and admit those that are skilled and effective. While ninjutsu was indeed important, ninjutsu does not make the ninja. It is the whole skill set and the way they make use of them. That much Shikamaru knew from his and his father's clan teachings and lessons.

But then came the point they all have been dying to learn, why Naruto stole the forbidden scroll. Although they were all frustrated when nothing was revealed about how he did it, they were shocked that Mizuki came up with that obvious lie. But they were even more shocked when Naruto apparently bought the lie.

But they had little time to digest that when Mizuki made his entrance and confusion washed over the minds of all present. And just when they thought they were beginning to get a handle on the situation, Mizuki actually attacked Naruto and Iruka.

While a few of the Genin missed a couple of details of the fight, due to their various positions in the area, they all saw enough and heard every word spoken (that was outside the mind). No one was left without bulging eyes when Naruto displayed his disappearing act. Then there wasn't a jaw above ground when Naruto took the enormous throwing star to save Iruka. Ino and Hinata were shaking with worry and a desire to rush to Naruto's side and help him, but Shikamaru's firm, albeit all to visibly worried, stare held them firm. Kiba and Akamaru had to use all their willpower to restrain their instinct to charge in to protect their friend.

Shikamaru, still with eyes and ears all on the fight, signed to them that they will only interfere if things turn for the worse. He clarified worse being if Iruka was losing to Mizuki.

Chouji asked him 'Why hesitate now? We've learned what we came to learn. There is nothing here that should prevent us from helping them now.'

'Because, Chouji, Mizuki might have accomplices. Several, strong accomplices. This is a bid for the scroll by Mizuki, and he could be working with more from the inside and/or outside. Also, if you didn't notice it, it seems there's some sort of bad blood from Mizuki's side towards Iruka-sensei and Naruto. He might have requested his allies to hold off with attacking. We would be risking our necks with little chance of giving a proper fight. The best we can do is watch and learn what we can.'

'I could scan the area for hostiles.' Hinata signed, anxious to get things going in order to faster get to Naruto.

'No, we're too close. They would sense you and we'd be in trouble and in over our heads before anyone could spell the word "drag".'

Before Ino could call Shikamaru out on that decision being cowardly, the traitorous teacher said something that would affect everyone's view of Naruto.

"**Well, the nine-tailed fox is a being with no corporeal form. It cannot be killed, not by any means we humans possess anyway. Instead, the Fourth Hokage had to resort to sealing it away inside an infant born the day of the attack, making it the demon's new form. That's right, Naruto, YOU ARE THE NINE-TAILED FOX!" **Mizuki hollered to the heavens with dark glee before laughing maniacally.

None of them made the smallest of moves.

That declaration from Mizuki tumbled all of their minds into a flurry of thoughts and emotions, ending up with them feeling nothing but coldness and appearing apathetic as they attempted to deal with their shock. Even Shikamaru was floored, unable to form a coherent thought for a few moments.

Naruto was the kyuubi? That couldn't be true, it just couldn't. And yet it all was starting to also make sense to them all. The stares, the rumors, the poor treatment and attitudes. Why Naruto was flunked, albeit Iruka was influenced rather than biased against him. Why Naruto has those whisker marks on his cheeks. But Naruto's behavior was completely the opposite of what the fox itself was observed to be.

Hinata was the first to shake herself out of her reverie, followed closely by Shikamaru, Shino and Sakura. Their eyes immediately went to Naruto. What they saw would be burned into their memory for the rest of their days.

There lied Naruto, his face showing nothing but complete and utter anguish. While the stomach's pain no doubt had a part in it, it was clear that his emotional pain overshadowed his physical one. Hinata could only imagine what it would feel like to learn something so terrible as that. If she had any doubts about him from the revelation, they were now disintegrated. If he was truly the kyuubi, he would not react that way. Nor would he risk his life to save someone else, especially someone who treated him wrongly. Her heart felt like it was being torn apart with sorrow and worry for her crush, no, her love.

Shikamaru observed Naruto with scrutinizing eyes before softening as he came to a conclusion. No one that was the fox reacted to such news with such strong feelings. Besides that, the fox would value its own life and no one else's. Which Naruto's actions had clearly demonstrated was not the case with himself.

Sakura was still trying to sort out everything she's just heard and witnessed. While she didn't know Naruto well enough to call him a true friend, she was fairly certain that Naruto's actions to this point are evidence enough that he is merely a container for the fox, not the demon itself. But she didn't know if she could feel safe around him anymore.

She turned to look at Naruto's writhing, silently crying form. Her heart clenched painfully at the sight of a classmate in such agony. It was then that she knew that Naruto was no threat. Before she knew it, she found herself even more intrigued by the boy. A big mystery was revealed, but it raised even more questions and deepened the depth of the mystery that surrounded the Uzumaki boy. Why was he chosen? How has he been able to deal with all this? What will he do now that he is aware of this?

Kiba was very conflicted. On the one paw, he knew Naruto to be a loyal and honorable guy, not to mention good at what he does. But with this news, he was a bit afraid of him. No that's not quite right, he was afraid of the being inside the seal, not on the bearer of the seal.

Akamaru was more level headed than his master in this instance. While dogs and foxes were naturally hostile towards one another, Akamaru was aware that Naruto was not a fox. He actually had been aware for a long time of that. He had been able to smell trace amounts of fox on Naruto but Kiba hadn't been able to smell that. Akamaru, suspecting that Kiba could not give the answers to this strange smell, went and consulted with Kuromaru, the alpa dog in the Inuzuka clan, who should know. He told the pup of the entire story, since dogs cannot be punished for telling other dogs. Kuromaru, however, told Akamaru to not reveal what he just learned to any human, including Kiba.

So now Akamaru, like all other ninken (ninja dogs) knew that Naruto was the cage for the monstrous fox. For the young pup, there was nothing more to it.

Sensing his partner and master's shocked state from the news, Akamaru did something very surprising. He bit Kiba's hand. When Kiba looked down in shock and hurt, Akamaru growled and snorted at him.

Kiba looked away in shame at his partners canine words. 'He's right, Naruto's a living cage. If he's kept the fox away all this time without it breaking loose, I have no reason to start fearing that now.' He thought, disappointed in himself.

Sensing his partner's return to his senses, Akamaru went and licked the bite mark. While his bite didn't cut into the skin, Akamaru did it as a gesture of both an apology and a reassurance that he wasn't angry with him anymore.

Shino's insects were all abuzz at the news of the terrible being, whom the bugs knew from genetic memory was responsible for many hives lost in the attack generations back. But Shino never detected any animosity towards his friend from his miniature allies. When he asked them, they replied in one voice, as they always do.

"Unit Naruto Equals No Threat. Enemy Fox Equals Neutralized For Foreseeable Future. Information Given By Hostile Superior Equals Vital For Future Accurate Consensuses Regarding Unit Naruto." Countless tiny, high-pitched voices only Aburame's could pick up and understand responded.

'Elaborate further, please.' Shino requested inwardly of his bugs.

"Future Accurate Consensuses Regarding Unit Naruto Equals Various Types Of Assistance Plus Protection of Unit Naruto."

'Why would you want to protect Naruto?'

"Query Equals Superfluous. Unit Naruto Equals Comrade Equals Ally To Hive Queen Plus Hive Host."

'Allow me to clarify. Naruto being the host to the Kyuubi is not a factor?'

"Insufficient Addition."

'As in, he's not dangerous to us due to the fox?'

"Enemy Fox Equals Neutralized. Ally Naruto Equals Strong Container. Illogical Treatment Plus Inflicted Damage Has Not Equaled Enemy Fox Breaking Out. Hive Consensus Regarding Risk Level Equals Negligible. Hive Consensus Regarding Unit Naruto Equals Highly Valued Ally. Hive Consensus Equals Hive Protect Ally Naruto. Hive Consensus Equals Hypothesized Death Of Ally Naruto Equals High Probability Of Fox Breaking Out."

'What of the implied weaknesses in control by Mizuki? And other factors in usefulness?'

There was some mingling between his bugs before a unified response came.

"Hive Consensus Regarding Unit Naruto's Usefulness Equals High Value. Lacking Control Does Not Equal Uselessness If Reserve Size Counters Need For Conservation. Unit Naruto's Reserve Size Equals Beyond Hive Capability To Determine. Unit Naruto Equals Highly Versatile Unit Equals Precious Ally Plus Welcomed Asset In Any Team."

'I see.' Shino replied. If his bugs were not worried about the fox, nor concerned about any supposed flaws in skill, then he saw no reason to fear or be troubled about any 'flaws' with Naruto himself. As his own insects pointed out, the risk level is negligible, since if the fox hasn't broken free up till now, then the risk of it doing so is virtually non-existent. Things with Naruto will proceed as they always have. If his insects were also correct about the breach of the seal upon Naruto's death, then it was his lifelong mission to make certain that does not come to pass.

Another thought passed through his mind. Naruto is a kindred spirit due to his persecution and social rejection by the populace. While certainly not persecuted, Aburames have had trouble blending in with society at large due to their practices and the creatures they hold within themselves. The similarity was most certainly not lost to the young Aburame heir.

Chouji was lost. He wasn't a guy that was known to utilize his brain that much, but he was far from stupid. He was merely a simple individual. But this was far too much to take in for the rotund ninja. He knew that Naruto, as he knew him, was a great friend and dependable comrade in arms. But this addition to Naruto was so wild and unfamiliar that he couldn't figure out what to feel about it.

Looking to his best friend, Shikamaru, he gave a look that clearly asked for help in figuring this out. Shikamaru, who had come to his conclusion at this point, returned the look with one of calm reassurance. He quickly signed 'We'll talk later, Chouji.'

Chouji visibly calmed down, reassured. If Shikamaru was calm about it, then he was certain he figured out something and things weren't as bad as it sounded.

Ino was very much shocked. So this was why people had been so mean to Naruto and spread such disgusting rumors about him. While a part of her mind was arguing that it was merely a mind game cruelly played by Mizuki, she knew it was true. Now some of the bits and pieces of rumors and gossip that did not make any sense before fit perfectly in place. Naruto was the nine tails' container.

Container, not the monster itself. For Ino had begun to learn psychology awhile back as part of her mind jutsu training. With that, she had easily deduced that Naruto was completely undeserving of bad treatment. Even now, with this revelation, she could easily stand by that deduction. Her main concern now would be to learn more about what it means to be a holder of a tailed beast and if it somehow affects Naruto in some way, psychologically or physically, aside from a size increase in reserves and lesser control of chakra.

Then a troubling thought occurred to her. Would her parents allow her to date Naruto, all things considered? But she shook her mind clear of that thought, now was certainly not the time to think about stuff like that, now was the time for doing what she was taught.

Sasuke's eyes were fixated on Naruto in shock at the dark and disturbing revelation. Nobody saw it, nor did Sasuke himself feel it, but he was so shocked that his eyes turned red but they had no markings yet found in the Sharingan that the Uchiha were so famous for.

Now it all made sense, the dark looks from villagers and some ninja even. This was the reason for Naruto not wanting to go into shops or eating at places other than Ichiraku's. This was why he had so large reserves and consequently poor control.

After a few moments of contemplation, Sasuke regained his senses and considered more deeply what he learned. It came naturally to him that Naruto was no threat to them, nor was he the fox in any shape or form, other than his whisker marks at the most. Naruto was clearly a victim of circumstances. He happened to be born at just the right, or wrong, time, depending on how you view it, to be used as a tool of salvation for the village in its moment of dire peril. No doubt his parents, whoever they were, died in the attack, leaving Naruto as the orphan he had always been.

In a way, Naruto was much like Sasuke, the only survivor of the butchering of his family all the while left with a terrible burden. Sasuke with his ambition of avenging his family, Naruto with his role of container of the very thing that murdered his and others' families. In a way, that was an even worse fate. At the very least, Naruto didn't have the pain of knowing and then loosing his family like Sasuke did.

If Sasuke considered Naruto a close friend or a brother figure before, he was a true brother in all but blood now. Sasuke's sense of honor would not settle for less. Naruto has had enough crap in life and still went out of his way to be of help to him and others, which is more than he could say of himself.

'You certainly have shown true strength, all this time you have been the strongest of us, Naruto.' Sasuke thought.

He was jealous of his hidden, latent power, seemingly given to him on a silver platter. But he found he could not keep that feeling for long, since that power came at a great cost. Too great a cost in his mind. In the end, it was power you should not be envious of.

'Besides, what's there to say that its power can't be used without some sort of risk or drawback?' Sasuke surmised. It would later turn out to be accurate.

The sound of kunai clashing and grinding against each other awakened them all from their stupor. The ensuing argument/fight kept their attention on the two combatants. Hinata and Ino occasionally glanced at Naruto to see how he was doing, and therefore were the only ones to notice that Naruto actually managed to dislodge the weapon that was recently firmly inside his stomach. This impressed them greatly, to have such determination and pain tolerance to ignore the pain and damage done to your hands in order to remove a bladed weapon, by the blade. Had she been a few years older, Ino might have thought that to be a turn on. Now though, they merely though it was cool and strong of Naruto to manage that.

As the argument went on, all of them eventually pulled themselves together and focused on the fight and argument, all with still jumbled thoughts. But all favorable in regards to Naruto.

It was looking real bad when Iruka got beaten and was at the mercy of the traitor. Shikamaru was seriously considering having them all intervene, despite the potential risks involved when the next, unexpected thing happened.

Just like Iruka and Mizuki, the group heard a sound, like distant thunder, coming from where Naruto used to lie. Turning their heads to the sound, they saw Naruto standing there as if there was no hole in his belly, but instead appeared as if he had an excess amount of energy to contain if his mild but still visible shaking of all his muscles were any indication.

But then he went momentarily still as if he was frozen solid. They saw him look at Mizuki, but not all could see the icy glare Naruto bore down upon him, only Hinata, Kiba, Sasuke and Chouji were at the right angle to behold it. Shivers went through their spines. They have never before seen Naruto so determined or angry, yet he was also in control of his emotions at that moment. As if he could rein in his feelings to deal with the situation at hand.

They missed the flashing of his eyes, though. They were looking at Mizuki to see what he would do when Naruto spoke to him.

Hinata was not afraid of Naruto, but she definitely saw a new side of Naruto that she has not seen before, but she would deduce later that this was probably what he looked and behaved like, or close to at least, during his fight with her kidnapper. She wasn't afraid of him then, she would not be afraid of him now. He was, after all, once again fighting an enemy of the village.

They all then heard Naruto speak to Mizuki, threatening him to release Iruka before he hurt him severely. None but Mizuki heard the everywhere voice Naruto performed. Which made everyone wonder what Mizuki was talking about when referring to 'parlor tricks.'

When Mizuki clearly stated that he wouldn't back down no matter what, Naruto acknowledged his reply before making hand signs no one present could make heads or tails of, baffling everyone.

They heard Naruto mutter something, but none heard what, though Kiba could have sworn it was "Ghost Style: _something_ Hunt".

Then Naruto disappeared, faded into seemingly thin air. No one was particularly surprised by this since they saw him fade into existence when they first met him and when he disappeared before he was impaled. But what did surprised them, and shake them a bit, was the flashing, seemingly floating eyes that briefly appeared before finally removing any trace of Naruto.

'He's like... a ghost.' Was the though of many present.

Kiba then noticed that Akamaru had laid down and his head was all the way to the ground, it was a pose of submission.

"What's wrong, boy? Do you sense something?" Kiba asked in a whisper. Akamaru quietly whined that he sensed something but didn't elaborate further as to what. Kiba knew 2 things. One was that Akamaru does this every time he senses someone or something much more powerful than he and his partner. Ninken can smell power and from an early age at that. The second thing was that Akamaru wasn't showing fear. If he was doing both things at the same time, it would have been someone hostile or potentially hostile. If only the first, then it would have been someone on their side but of higher rank or power.

After witnessing Iruka being freed, Kiba prodded Akamaru to tell him more, but Akamaru merely shook his head and kept his head down.

That was strange. Even in the face of superiors, Akamaru would still speak when spoken to, and he was trained to speak quietly when told to tell the rough level of power of an unknown or enemy ninja.

Shino's insects had, as soon as Naruto disappeared, suddenly all gone quiet. They never were quiet, even in his sleep. They were always active and doing something. Shino, while keeping an eye on the proceedings, sensed inward and to his shock discovered that every single kikaichu beetle inside him had faced the direction of Naruto and were completely still. Shino tried asking them what was the cause of their behavior. But he received no response, not even a sound of them acknowledging his query.

He didn't know whether to be worried or intrigued. But he supposed he would get his answers in due time. He just hoped he could count on them to be ready to respond to his commands if necessary.

Hinata realized that this was how Naruto fought the kidnapper from before. She was puzzled as to what was spoken during that fight and what the sounds were. Being taught how to use her senses, hearing included, more sharply than a normal civilian, she had a general idea of what took place, but she couldn't understand why certain parts did happen. Now she could fit in the missing pieces. Naruto was a ninja using invisibility and silence as opposed to an more open, strength-contesting ninja. She mildly and briefly chastised herself for forgetting he could do such things. It was, after all, the manner in which he introduced himself with.

Mizuki was about to cut Iruka's throat when he seemingly couldn't move his hand. He then dropped it with a small grunt of pain, allowing Iruka to break free of his captor's grip and get to safety, for the moment unable to do much due to feeling of nausea.

Mizuki shouted out a challenge for Naruto to face him openly. Sasuke couldn't help but silently snort at the stupidity of that challenge. Naruto wouldn't be baited like that and lose his advantage.

He was proven correct when Naruto condescendingly "lectured" Mizuki in the ways of the Ninja contra Samurai.

Mizuki tried to goad Naruto by demeaning his skills and courage. As a response, Naruto suddenly appeared behind him with a kunai already at his throat. Kiba and Akamaru heard him whisper that he was dead, which made the human half of the duo quietly snicker.

They all thought it was all over then, but to their surprise, Naruto removed the kunai and vanished once again. Sakura was gritting her teeth, shouting in her mind 'What is he doing? He had him! How could he just let him go like that?!'

They then heard Naruto's declaration of superiority in stealth, followed by his announcement of a contest of open combat. It answered Sakura's question but did nothing to abate her displeasure of him not ending this fight when he could have. 'Stupid boys and their need to show-off.' She thought with a huff. Ino, who was beside her, gave her a discreet slap to her arm and shushed at her. Sakura had the decency to blush in embarrassment.

The boys all agreed with Naruto in their minds and thought along the lines of 'Go get him. Kick his ass. Defeat him soundly, Naruto-san.' All except Shikamaru who thought the idea was troublesome, but couldn't help but be a little curious to how well Naruto could fight with blades. The more he learned of his former classmate and potential teammate, the better they can work together.

Well, the better he can direct Naruto and let him do the grunt-work most of the time.

The duel was, to say the least, an impressive sight. While Mizuki was superior in skill and experience, Naruto was so unpredictable and unorthodox, but nonetheless effective, that it evened out. Watching such a spectacular fight inspired a few to try out getting a weapon and train in it.

Naruto finally dealt a blow to his former teacher, but it was merely a gash. It did provide him with a window to end the fight, which he did.

However, Mizuki was a persistent enemy and he jumped back and readied shuriken for throwing.

[Read previous chapter's conversation]

The entire group listened intently as the conversation went on. The girls all shed tears at the sad story Naruto told, and they were touched how he was still so forgiving and understanding, and that he had such an admirable goal despite it, or maybe even because of it. They also agreed with Naruto's logic that he could not be the fox,

The boys frowned and sneered at the villagers' ignorance, but as soon as Naruto said he understood them and didn't blame them, they were amazed. They couldn't imagine themselves reacting as calmly as Naruto did. Their respect for Naruto doubled. Kiba couldn't help but tapping his chest with his right fist and then extending it towards Naruto as an unseen show of respect.

Sasuke looked down in thought. Naruto was far more forgiving than he himself had been. Although he didn't change his mind about bearing down revenge upon Itachi, he did vow to get some answers out of him before doing so. Until this point, he never was interested in the why, just that Itachi had slaughtered his clan. Perhaps if Itachi, unlikely, no, impossible, as it seemed, had a reason for his actions, Sasuke could at least rest easy after killing him. Or perhaps that would make it worse for himself, he would have to think on this.

But he couldn't think now, as they all witnessed Mizuki taunt Naruto using ants as an image of how he would crush him, much to Shino's chagrin, followed by him once again trying to attack Naruto, only for him to vanish once again.

Seeing Mizuki swipe empty air, everyone had to hold in their laughter at how stupid it looked, but they also had to hand it to Naruto for being able to control the fight and use the enemy's fear against him.

Then, all of a sudden, Mizuki was launched into the air. The keen eyes of Sasuke, who was still all red-eyed since he was still tense and, through that, unknowingly kept the new eyes active, noticed that it was ninja wire that had ensnared Mizuki's leg and pulled him up into the canopy. They heard a voice that sounded like Naruto from up there before blood-curling screams could be heard.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked with a shiver, speaking above a whisper to make herself heard over the screams coming down from the treetop.

Kiba and Shikamaru spoke as one. "He's keeping his word."

"What?" Ino asked.

Shikamaru responded. "Naruto's personal rule, or nindo as it were, is to never go back on his word, to never break a promise."

"Yeah," Kiba added. "And he gave that teme an ultimatum before. Release Iruka-sensei or he would break every bone in his body."

A particularly loud snap, since it was actually heard from even down there, and wail was heard. "It would appear he meant it quite literally." Shino commented dryly.

"Better the bastard's bones than his word, eh?" Sasuke jested. Kiba agreed with a grin and bumped fists with him. Though some were a tad disturbed at the dark joke, they held no love or sympathy for the teacher-turned-traitor.

Hinata considered using her Byakugan to see Naruto but held back since she didn't want to witness the gruesome display that generated the screams.

After a few minutes, they saw Naruto along with Mizuki descending to the ground using the wire he had pulled Mizuki up with. No one was sure how he did that since someone had to be at the other end for that. And no one had a real idea what the slight "poof" they heard from above when they touched the ground was.

They saw him gently lay the broken, pun intended, Mizuki onto the ground, showing a small amount of compassion for his enemy. He then spoke to him about the ants Mizuki used to taunt him with. How they were impressive creatures despite their tiny size and how an anthill's setup are like a hidden village. The more Shino heard the more he was pleased. At the mention of himself supplying Naruto with the information, he actually did recall the time he lectured Naruto in how an anthill works. He never noticed himself smiling a little, which is an Aburame's equivalent to grinning and laughing.

The others had to admit it was a fitting parable and a moving speech Naruto came up with, and that on the spot too.

'Who knew he had that in him as well?' Sakura and Ino thought with a smile.

Then the Hokage made his appearance with a couple of ANBU guards. The Hokage praised Naruto's efforts and his speech. Iruka was about to tell him of everything that had happened but was saved the trouble by Sarutobi who said he knew from the start, to both Iruka's and the group of Genin's surprise.

Naruto then told him his side of the story. The group was relieved to hear that Naruto wasn't fooled by this ploy of Mizuki's, that would have been disappointing. They weren't pleased that he deliberately and effectively kept them away from him for this but understood his reasoning, they weren't supposed to be involved anyway. But here they were, an unforeseen audience to this spectacle. What they didn't know was how he did it, but with the mention of "Kage Bunshin" or "Shadow Clones", Shikamaru, Shino and Sakura got a few more answers to their puzzle. They knew what "Kage Bunshin" were and, frankly, were not that surprised that he survived using it due to his massive reserves because of Kyuubi.

Shikamaru also deduced rather quickly that he must have learned it from the scroll. However, he used it before he took the scroll, suggesting that he has had it in his possession at least once before all this. So that was another troublesome mystery regarding the foxy ninja.

The plan Naruto and the Hokage came up with was risky for a Genin or in Naruto's case pre-Genin. But with the skills he displayed they supposed it was a solid plan. They never knew that the Naruto that came behind Mizuki with a kunai to his throat was actually a clone. Those who didn't understand what a Shadow Clone was, now got a good grasp of it. It was a solid clone, able to interact with the world just like the real thing.

When asked about his injury, Naruto stated, to their relief, that he had an amazing healing ability. But they were saddened when he mentioned that he had worse injuries inflicted upon him before, they correctly assumed he was referring to beatings from the villagers when he was younger.

But they had little time to feel sad for him as the Hokage then announced his promotion to Genin and due to the mission's difficulty was further promoted to Tokubetsu Genin (Special Genin). Elation was on everyone's face as they could barely contain their joy for Naruto's well deserved promotion. The sight of Naruto going from serious, bad-ass ninja to a childish but overjoyed kid was a funny contrast. It made many hold their mouths to muffle their laughs.

But Iruka's stickling for the rules and regulations made all in the group frown in disapproval of their former sensei.

'For crying out loud, sensei, let it go already!' Was the direction of their thoughts, though some were more... colorful in their silent admonishment.

They all heartily agreed with the scolding Iruka then received by Sarutobi.

When things were about to be wrapped up, they noticed they had been discovered by the ANBU. Upon the Hokage's command, Shikamaru sighed and gave the signal to show themselves.

When they appeared before them, the first thing they noticed was an obviously terrified Naruto.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing. Before him were his friends from class. What were they doing here? How much did they witness?

He felt panic. Panic so intense it threatened to tear him apart from the inside.

"Ho... how much did... you hear?" He shakily asked.

Shikamaru, deciding to speak for the group, strode forward. "We saw and heard the whole thing, bar a few whispers." He spoke with a lazy look.

Apparently that was not the right look to show nor the thing to say. Naruto took it as a negative reaction to his newfound status as a Jinchuriki. Before anyone could do anything about it, Naruto bolted from the area.

"Wa... Wait, Naruto-Kun!" Hinata called after him, but he was either not hearing her or ignored her.

"Why did he run like that?" Chouji asked.

"Troublesome. He thinks we hate him now for his burden."

"That idiot! How could he think so low of us?" Sakura said with frustration.

"First he doesn't trust us with the plan to foil Mizuki's trap and capture him, then he doesn't trust us to have more brains than those morons in the village." Ino then added her own two Ryo with an indignant huff.

"Oi! He's not an idiot!" Kiba defended his buddy.

"Enough, Genin!" The Hokage raised his voice. Immediately they all quieted down and, as drilled to do, fell in line in front of the Hokage. Whenever he called them like that, it was attention time.

Hiruzen closed his eyes and sighed before looking upon them all. "I would have you explain why all of you are here."

Shikamaru, since he was the De-facto leader for this bunch of worried friends, spoke up and explained the entire thing, from the point where they were waiting for Naruto to finish his exam.

After he finished, which took no more than ten minutes, the aged leader of the Leaf smiled at them.

"You have made me very proud of you all. You have proven my faith in you to be correctly placed."

They all smiled happily, being commended by the Hokage himself wasn't an everyday occurrence.

But they weren't prepared for his sudden change in mood. He frowned and looked at Sakura and Ino.

"But I am also disappointed in those of you who failed Naruto."

Looking at each other, they weren't sure what he was referring to. "Who have failed Naruto and how?" Sasuke asked, though he had an idea what it could be.

"Those of you who didn't stop to consider Naruto's predicament and feelings. He had just gotten through a revelation about himself that would have left any lesser man's spirit crushed, but persevered enough to combat a dangerous enemy, save his former teacher and did so with skill and professionalism unheard of in an academy graduate. He had little to no time to actually digest this news before you showed up here in front of him.

How could he be expected to be able to deal with you learning it when it was such a tremendously difficult thing for himself? Something that also was a cause for a staggering amount of pain and suffering for him in the past due to hatred against him and his status!" The Hokage scolded them, or at least those that were inconsiderate of Naruto's feelings.

Ino and Sakura looked down in shame. Now, thinking about it, they were very insensitive and showed immaturity in this case. 'How could I?' They thought in unison.

They all then tried putting themselves in Naruto's situation. They all came to the same heartbreaking conclusion. Naruto was at the point of breaking. He was deathly afraid of losing his friends, the only ones his age that he managed to get after being hurt, ostracized and lonely for the majority of his life. Now his worst fear seems, to him, to have come to pass.

The thought was almost too much to bear for many, it was to a few in particular. Hinata, Ino and Kiba were beside themselves with grief and worry.

"We need to go after him right now! He needs to know we are still his friends!" Kiba said, making no room for argument.

The Hokage scanned everyone's faces to discern if anyone of them held any ill intent or were dishonest in anyway. He found nothing but sincere desire to reassure and comfort his semi-adopted grandson.

With a smile he agreed. "Go then, find him and heal his pained heart and ease his shaken spirit."

He hadn't even finished his sentence before they were all off at a sprint after Naruto. Before Shikamaru could join the rest of the group, Sarutobi called him.

"Shikamaru-kun! Before you go, I just wanted to tell you that I think you need to speak with Shikaku-san about tonight's events. Additionally, I wish to see you all in my office come morning."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama. Though, if I may ask, isn't all this classified information?"

"Hmph." Hiruzen snorted amusedly. "Astute as always. You Nara's sure are a sharp lot, no matter the age. Yes indeed, this is all classified. Mizuki's betrayal is a B rank secret, that could later be reduced or removed depending on what he reveals during his interrogation. Naruto's status is still an S-rank secret and will remain so until further notice. Shikaku, however, has maximum security clearance for those beneath the rank of Hokage and I trust him completely. Go ahead and tell him everything, he will learn of this through me later on anyway."

Shikamaru nodded and ran to catch up to the rest of his fellow graduates, which was a huge drag in his book. Catching up to someone already in maximum speed ninja-travel mode goes against every Nara male's code of conduct. But he had something on his mind to keep him from grouching over that fact. Why did the Hokage think it was necessary for him to tell his father of the night's events?

Back with Sarutobi, he ordered his ANBU to take Mizuki to the hospital's captive care unit.

The Hokage then turned to Iruka who was still appearing to be ashamed of his past actions and, no doubt, disturbed by his false comrade and former friend's dark deeds.

Clapping a friendly hand across Iruka's shoulder, Sarutobi spoke. "Now, Iruka-kun, what say you to some tea back at my home?"

"Sir?" Iruka queried.

"You look like you need someone to talk to, and perhaps some counseling. I know I would have if I was in your shoes."

"I... thank you, Hokage-sama. But I am sure I can find someone to talk to in the morning or something." Iruka responded, trying to make light the weight of his emotions.

"Now, none of that, Iruka-kun. Things such as this should not be left to rot in your heart longer than necessary. And it is my pleasure to be of help to anyone in need in my village. After all, I have said before in various classes, including yours I might add, that everyone in this village are like my family, have I not?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Well, if I see before me someone from my home in need of help, how can I not give it? It would be nullifying my own words and that just wont do." Sarutobi chuckled warmly.

Iruka nodded before smiling. "Yes, Sir. I humbly accept your invitation."

Sarutobi gave a grandfatherly smile and they started to walk home. Then Sarutobi stopped for a second. "Aw, geez, I forgot to ask Naruto to return the scroll." He chuckled. Iruka sweat-dropped.


	36. Fathers & Sons

Chapter 35: Fathers and Sons

Naruto ran as fast as he could. He just ran, with no destination thought out since he couldn't even think beyond running and taking smaller leaps. It took him a couple of minutes of running before he had regained his senses to the point he could think out a destination. Even so, he was still very much distraught.

'I can't believe this is happening. This isn't happening!' He thought in despair. 'Why did they have to be there?! This was supposed to be a secret operation! Dammit, now they know all about the fox in me! They'll hate me and shun me just like the rest of the villagers!'

He arrived home, where no one, save Yokai-sensei, has been before. They wouldn't find him here. With that thought calming him down some, he started to think more clearer, but still not improving the direction his thoughts were heading.

[Youtube: Naruto Shippuden OST Despair]

As he calmed down, he first noticed that he was exhausted like never before, both physically and mentally. While clearer, he was like a mindless drone as he set himself a simple task. He trudged his way to his shower, shed his clothes, never even noticing the scroll he still carried on his back, and decided to take a shower before heading for bed. All the while trying to forget the night's events. But he couldn't. If he wasn't in the shower, one could have seen tears running down his face.

Not even fifteen minutes after learning what he was, what he contained, what that has done to his life in the past and what it could mean for his future, his only friends his own age came out of the woodwork, admitting that they had learned it at the same moment he did.

The full weight of the situation only now began to dawn upon him. With his friends now hating him, his work to gain the trust and respect of his peers and the rest of the village just got immensely harder. He now only had his handful of friends that were older than himself. While they were not his own age, he was nevertheless just as thankful for their existence as he was for his former classmates and now also former friends. He would need his senseis and his jiji and the Ichiraku's presence in his life now more than ever to help him strive to reach his dreams and goals.

With a painful amount of anxiety still left in his heart, he nevertheless vowed to himself that the night's events would not stop him from doing what he has already set himself to do. Nor would anything or anyone in the future stop him, regardless of what amount of pain, strife or difficulties he had to overcome.

Stepping out of the shower, he only then noticed the forbidden scroll in the heap of clothes he discarded on the floor without care. Despite his woes, he couldn't resist a small, humorless chuckle at that. Getting dressed in new clothes, he created a shadow clone to carry the scroll to the Hokage tower to be returned back to its rightful place.

He then went to bed, exhausted. He still wanted to cry but was unable to due to being so drained. He dryly noted that he no doubt would have enough energy to spend on doing that the next day.

[Soundtrack End]

Before succumbing to his body's desire to rest, he decided to speak with his Pops.

'Hey, Pops. You and I need to talk.'

"**So we do, Naruto-kun."** Kami responded as his presence became more pronounced to Naruto.

'You knew they were there, watching us.' Naruto stated in his mind without emotion. No emotion discernible for a human anyway.

"**I did."** Kami replied.

'Then why?! Why did you allow it to happen?! Was it really necessary for them to be there?! Did they have to find out about me, at the same time I did?! I am barely able to deal with it as it is right now! I can't deal with them knowing it now too!' He mentally shouted, such things don't require much energy so he could do it this way.

[Youtube: Naruto Shippuden OST God's Will]

"**When I said to you that things needed to progress the way they did, I included them as well. The answers to your questions will not be answered this night, but when morning arrives, things will become clear."** Kami replied calmly.

'Really? That's actually more than I expected to get with the way things have gone so far.' Naruto admitted with both a cynical and interested tone.

"**Not everything will, should or even can be secret, My son. Not everything will be as it was with Sasuke's mother or with his loss of his clan."**

'So you're saying I'm better off in this case than he was, yeah? Why should I be better off with answers and stuff? I don't deserve answers, or being better off, more than Sasuke does.'

"**Believe it or not, Naruto-kun. But sometimes, it is not always my doing alone that gets you in beneficial positions."**

'What do you mean?'

"**For example; while I do work in secretive ways and have a hand in all things going on, there are many things that require the proper acts from individuals. It was, for example, your hard work that enabled you to be in a position to combat your former teacher. I helped you in your fight, yes, but had you not worked to get to that point you would have been in a serious disadvantage or even in an impossible situation to overcome."**

'So then, things require us to do our part, basically?'

"**That and simply trying your best at being the best man you can be. Strength, kindness, humility, forgiveness, empathy, generosity and a sense of humor are all traits everyone should have or strive to have. Whether you're a good man/woman or not is a large factor in My selection process of agents to do My bidding. The right man or woman for the right job and place in My grand plan. Of course, while all My plans are always optimal, the weakest link in any of them is, regrettably, you."**

'Me?' Naruto's face contorted into a shocked one.

Kami actually chuckled before replying. **"Think again, sonny."**

'Us then? You're saying that any failure in your plans are always our fault as agents?'

"**Not just My agents, but human beings in general. You are imperfect. That is a fact, sad as it is. This lone fact perforates much of the integrity of any plans involving you that I make. In other words, I have to take chances that you act the way I want you to, agents of Mine or otherwise. If that fails, I have backup plans that may help minimize the damage but even those fail at times when human shortcomings occur. That is a downside with the free will that I have imparted unto humans. But unavoidable if you are to remain free to chose whether to do good or not, and that is something I will not alter."**

'Well I don't see where you're going with this lecture of yours.' Naruto asked slightly impatient.

"**It was a very complex and intricate series of human shortcomings, within and outside of the clan, that led to the massacre of the Uchiha. You may think that Sasuke-kun is worse off than you are in your situation. But the fact is if it wasn't for your just being yourself, Sasuke would be in an even worse emotional state. His mother would have been lost entirely as well."**

'What... are you... talking about?' Naruto asked, taking in shaky breaths in shock from this admission.

"**Mikoto-chan was on the fence in regards to which side she was to chose in the upcoming revolt against the Hokage. She was torn between staying loyal to her clan or staying loyal to her village and Hokage. Your argument that evening at the dinner table coaxed her into thinking about the matter from a perspective she had not considered until that point. That, in the end, was what allowed her to make a choice that influenced Itachi to spare her."**

'"Sparing" being a very loose term if you ask me.' Naruto stated darkly at the thought of that night.

"**Itachi's actions, while I predicted them, were failings. Itachi's life has been harsh in various ways and it has affected his capacity for understanding and thus prevented him from acting in a way that would have been more sensible and wise. But, the fact that I took that into account made me able to use it as a part of my plan as opposed to a detriment to it."**

'How?'

"**That is not important for you to know at this time, Naruto-kun."** Kami responded serenely.

'Oh don't do this to me again! Why is it "important" for me to know all the other things you're telling me but not that?' Naruto groaned in frustration.

"**You do not need to know the more intricate parts of My plan regarding Itachi. Leave him to Me for now. Should it come to you needing to know, I will tell you in order for you to do what I need of you. As to why I told you all this, it is My way of telling you that by doing your best at being a good man and a diligent agent, good things will come to both you and those around you as a result, whether in the darkest of hours or the happiest of days."**

'But what if I face a situation I have no hope of winning despite working my ass of to that point?' Naruto asked, his mind not on his friends for the moment.

"**When such a point occurs, I shall grant you courage. If a foe is too much then I shall fight with you, just like I promised you. Or did you forget my promise?"** Kami asked.

'No, it just temporarily slipped my mind.' Naruto sheepishly replied.

"**There is little difference with forgetting and something 'slipping your mind'."** Kami commented.

'Okay, okay. Give me a break here, I've had a hard night.' Naruto pouted.

"**Do not worry, I shall remind you any time you forget."** Kami reassured with an amused tone.

'Whatever you say. It still doesn't exactly answer my question of why I deserve answers to my questions more than Sasuke deserves answers to his and all of that jazz. How does all that tie in with my friends?'

"**As I have said to you, Naruto-kun. Come morning, things will be made clear."** Kami said before his presence diminished to almost nothing.

[Soundtrack End]

'Great, I yet again get answers and yet I don't get much answered.' Naruto tiredly thought before his eyes slowly closed, his heart strangely eased so he could at least rest in peace.

"So Shino, where is he at?" Sasuke asked the insect wielder.

"I do not know." Shino answered simply.

"What?! How could you not know? I thought you had a queen or something stuck on him!" Kiba demanded.

"Once we had located Naruto-san, I recalled the 'female' kikaichu from his person since its task was complete. There was no further reason to have it remain on him."

"It's a drag, but he's right. We couldn't have foreseen this development." Shikamaru sighed.

"So, we don't know where he's gone. Does anyone know where he lives?" Ino asked.

"I believe Hinata does, she studies and spars with him regularly." Sakura supplied.

All eyes turned to Hinata, she felt embarrassed under the pressure of their gazes, prompting her to poke and rub her index fingers together in a meek manner.

"Um... I don't know where Naruto-kun lives." She admitted shyly.

"Nani?! How come you don't know that?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Father has made it... perfectly clear that our studies and spars are to be held within the boundaries of our clan's compound. We agreed to that... but when I asked privately why he wanted it so, he just said it was... for several reasons. All for... our own good." She told them.

"I bet I know what those reasons are." Ino commented in a slightly annoyed tone, huffing on the inside. Inoichi, her father, was very protective of his only daughter.

"So... you never asked him where he lives?" Chouji asked.

"It just... never came up." Hinata replied with her fingers still poking together meekly.

"*Sigh* Troublesome. Sasuke, don't you know where it is?"

"Whenever we hung out, it was somewhere inside the village or in the Uchiha compound. Again, the subject of where he, himself, lives never came up." Sasuke answered with a frown of annoyance.

"So, let me get this straight. You guys are the ones closest to him, but none of you actually visited him every once in a while or at least had the decency to learn where your good friend lives?" Sakura summarized, her face sour and tone laced heavily with disapproval. "I would have at least had the common sense to learn such a basic thing."

"Like you're in any better position!" Kiba defended.

"I'm not really counted as one of Naruto's closest friends, nor can I truly be considered even a friend. Just an acquaintance." Sakura returned, but with less heat.

"And yet you are here." Shino remarked.

"Yes." Sakura said as she looked down. She then continued in a remorseful tone. "I wished to learn more about him, still do, and become a proper friend of his. But my mom's completely against it so I haven't acted. This is the most I've done to get closer to him."

Ino went up to her and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I think that it's enough for him that you show that you care about him as a friend. We just need to find him to let him know we still are his friends, wherever he is."

"Hey, Kiba." Chouji addressed. "Can't you sniff him out or track him?"

"No good, Chouji. Tracking wise, I've taken us as far as we can go, back here in the village. It's all up to the nose from there. But, neither me nor Akamaru have developed our sense of smell or the skill to correctly understand the smells we pick up to actually find Naruto within the village."

"I thought you were one of the best trackers and sniffers in class?" Sasuke asked with a small taunt thinly veiled in his otherwise legitimate question.

"Grrr! I am." Kiba growled at Sasuke. Whether that was from irritation at Sasuke's poorly hidden jibe or his failure to help was only known to Kiba. "But the thing is, only the best trackers in our clan, and we're talking Chunin and upwards here, can make, at least, reasonable distinctions in a densely populated area such as the Leaf. Then there's the fact that Naruto gets out much and is all over the place, and in certain spots he hangs out enough to leave almost permanent scent traces."

"In short, you're of no help, dog-boy." Ino remarked. Kiba snarled lightly at Ino while she stuck out her tongue in response.

"Alright, take it easy. Ino, Kiba is a friend of Naruto and he hates it when he's unable to help. What do you think he feels in this situation? You should be more considerate." Shikamaru reprimanded her lazily.

She huffed and crossed her arms. But after a few seconds she recalled her being inconsiderate of Naruto's situation. She hated herself when she realized she did that. She might have been shallow and a tad teasing towards others, but she didn't want to be an outright bitch. She glanced in Kiba's direction and gave an apologetic smile. Kiba waved it off with a grin, indicating they were ok.

"As it stands," Shino then stated. "I have deduced that we can only learn his place of residence from the Hokage himself. Hokages keep a record of the address of every ninja under his command. Since Naruto is now a Ninja, that information should be available to him for perusal." Shino voiced his idea.

"Not to mention the fact that the two are close like family." Shikamaru added.

"I bet 'he' at least learned his address way before you guys did." Sakura couldn't help but put in another jibe.

"Alright, enough of that." Sasuke admonished, which caused Sakura to blush in slight shame and even more embarrassment. "Do we know any other hangouts that he frequents?"

"Ichirakus, the top of the Hokage Monument, occasionally the park." Kiba supplied.

"Yeah, but would he go to any of those places right now? It's been a tough night and he's most likely tired on top of his distraught state." Chouji contributed.

"Good point, Chouji." Shikamaru nodded. "As far as I can tell, we can't do much more tonight. We'll just have to find him tomorrow."

"We c-can't let N-Naruto-kun go an e-e-entire night thinking we... h-hate him!" Hinata protested, a few tears threatening to spill at the mere thought.

"But we can't find him and the Ichiraku's are closed, not to mention they might not know anyway. The Hokage isn't at the tower at this time, despite the events. Disturbing the Hokage at his home is forbidden unless it's an emergency." Shikamaru said. "Of a way larger scale than this." He then added when Hinata wanted to argue that this was an emergency.

"Besides. I was held back before because the Hokage told me that all this was classified stuff and to have us all report to him in the morning. We've searched for the better part of an hour. By now he should be sleeping soundly, something I would like to do right now."

"What are we to report in for?" Chouji asked.

"Beats me, we just go where we're told. However..." Shikamaru left it open as he scanned the group.

Shino raised his head as he caught on. Sakura's eyes widened after a minute.

"Naruto will be there as well tomorrow morning!" She informed.

"That's right. You all recall that Naruto was to report to the Hokage to discuss the details of being a Tokubetsu Genin. If we report in early enough, we might beat Naruto there and wait for him or at least learn where he lives."

"How early should we get there?" Kiba wondered.

"Ano... I think we should meet... outside the tower when... the Hokage is about to start working." Hinata offered.

"Yeah, but when is that? I never heard of when that actually is." Chouji asked.

"It's at 0700 hours. I know because I've read it on the plaque outside the main entrance." Shikamaru informed them lazily.

"Then 0700 it is, we'll gather outside there and report in to the Hokage and surprise Naruto." Ino declared.

They all agreed and left for home.

Shikamaru entered his clan's compound and, as suggested by his leader, sought out his father.

"Dad? You awake still?"

Surprisingly, he was. "Yeah, son." Came his voice from the Shogi room, as the room they usually went to to play in peace was affectionately dubbed.

As he expected, upon entering the room, he saw his father in a nail-biting match of Shogi against... himself.

"Are you winning?" Shikarmaru sarcastically queried.

"Of course, but not the me I was hoping for." He replied idly, ignoring the sarcasm.

Rolling his eyes, Shikamaru sat opposite from his father on the floor.

"Since it is going so good for the... 'wrong you', how about we reset this match and you try to beat me instead."

"What makes you think you would be able to provide a more interesting match?" Shikaku dryly asked.

"Wasn't it you who first told me that the next generation always are supposed to surpass the previous one?" Shikamaru retorted with a smirk.

"Supposed to, yes. I didn't say it had to happen at this very moment." Shikaku replied with a challenging gleam in his eyes.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. It's the will to try that makes us able to surpass you elder guys."

"You implying that we don't try nowadays?"

"I will say that you at least have to think harder to manage your wins each time we have a close round." Shikamary taunted.

Chuckling, Shikaku reset the board.

"I'm surprised you haven't gone to bed already, son." Shikaku admitted as he made the first move and kept his eyes on the board.

"I would have, had I not been... recommended to speak with you about something." Shikamaru answered him, both verbally and on the board. He kept his eyes on it as well.

"Is that so? Who recommended you do such? And what are we supposed to discuss?" Another move.

"The Hokage recommended me to do so. As for why, I am not sure myself, though I have a hunch. Regardless, I am to tell you of something that's happened today and tonight. I'm guessing that whatever we're supposed to talk about will reveal itself as we go."

"Sounds like a plan."

As the match went, Shikamaru retold the whole day's and night's events from his perspective. Even though Shikaku never allowed his eyes to wander from the board, his attention was completely on the story.

Though it was unseen, Shikaku was surprised to learn of Naruto's failure at the academy and his weird behavior following it. He then had to smile a little at his son's concern and troublesome plan to find and console Naruto.

Once Naruto was found, Shikaku was slightly worried about Naruto's actions, but he listened nonetheless. He then listened and nodded to Shikamaru's reasoning once he learned of what Naruto had taken from the tower. So far his son had acted with commendable intelligence.

But when he heard the part of Mizuki attacking Naruto and Iruka, he was shocked to hear that; it happened, Naruto managed to vanish temporarily, that he had the guts to take a fuma shuriken for Iruka and finally what Mizuki shouted out for all present to hear.

But his eyes were still glued to the board. Don't worry.

He then listened to his son retelling of what he thought and felt about the matter and that the rest of them felt the same, which pleased him greatly and elicited a large amount of pride for his son.

He halted his son's story to ask; "Son, why didn't you tell your group to move in to assist at that point?"

"There was a risk of possible nearby accomplices."

"Nearby accomplices? What gave you a reason to think there was?"

"Since were talking about the forbidden scroll, I doubt Mizuki was acting alone. Then there's the fact that Mizuki, as one of the teachers of our class, was well aware of the skill level of Naruto and, of course, Iruka-sensei. Then there's the general hatred towards Naruto. There could have been more individuals like-minded enough to go with Mizuki in his plans. I also noticed that Mizuki seemed to have bad blood towards both Iruka and Naruto. It led me to believe he wanted to deal with them himself, but could have had his lackeys stand back until needed. What Mizuki revealed only compounded my reasoning.

All this considered, we could have been facing a squad of Chunin or even Jounin getting the drop on us if we had moved in too early."

"Son, if you ask me, that's borderline over-thinking things." Shikaku said as he moved one of his more maneuverable pieces.

"I found it to be a plausible theory. I didn't want to risk my classmates' lives by acting rashly." Shikamaru answered and moved a piece to counter the threat of the previous piece.

"Acting rashly is indeed dangerous and foolish." Shikaku admitted as he moved another dangerous piece into a threatening position. "However, inaction can be just as risky and without just cause is also cowardly."

"I'm not a coward." Shikamaru defended as he moved another piece, a sacrificial one, to block the advance of the opposing piece.

"I didn't say you were." Shikaku said as he moved a third piece into a position to compromise Shikamaru's front. "But I am saying that sitting idly by as your comrades are in danger and distress was not the best course of action."

"What would you have done in my place?" The younger Nara questioned as he moved a weak piece to yet again block the advance.

"I would have had your group silently and stealthily spread around the area and try to ascertain whether Mizuki was alone or not and, if possible," Shikaku moved a piece he had been saving to take out on of Shikamaru's better pieces, opening a possible route into his delicate zone. "neutralize them before moving in to assist your comrades before any preventable damage or casualties were sustained. The injury Naruto sustained was too quickly inflicted for you to prevent, but there could have been further harm done. In fact, if not for the miraculous intervention of Naruto himself, there would have been."

Shikamaru pondered for a few moments before risking an aggressive move with his forward pieces.

"I couldn't be certain my friends were up to that task."

"When facing a situation with many unknowns and possible variables," Shikaku began as he intercepted the aggressive piece. "there are few who would think otherwise. But the thing about being a ninja, is to face the unknown with courage and faith in your comrades' abilities."

"We are newly graduated Genin. With no experience to make use of in any such situation." Shikamaru responded with a move of his "King" to a safer location.

"The fact you took that into account is a good thing, but you took it too far, son." The elder Nara told the younger as he moved a piece to pursue the "King". "Your numbers were considerable for the situation, chances were that Mizuki had 1 or 2 Chunin level ninja with him at the most, Chunin ninja are generally all in favor of Naruto-san and no one, to my knowledge, carries resentment to either him or Konoha. No Jounin in the village has traitorous tendencies whatsoever, nor do they have anything but positive attitudes towards Naruto-san."

"Really? I didn't know that." There was a pause in the moves as Shikamaru considered his options.

"You couldn't have. Which is why it is rather forgivable that you didn't take that into consideration."

"But still, we could have suffered casualties of our own combating the Chunin, even if it was just the one."

"If you got the drop on him or her, then the risks would have been considerably diminished. You were promoted to Genin for a reason, son. If you weren't capable, you wouldn't be wearing that Hitai-ate."

"That's another matter I would like to talk to you about later." Shikamaru said as he moved a piece to intercept the piece closest to the "King".

"Very well. But for now, can you see where you went wrong?"

His son sighed and rubbed his scalp. "Yeah, I was too cowardly in my reasoning."

"Not quite, but you were getting there. The Will of Fire does dictate that you take good care of those under your command. But being overprotective can cause more harm than it does good. The possibility that there were enemy Chunin back-up also came with the risk of them making the move I suggested before you did, getting the drop on you, despite your attempts at keeping yourself hidden." Shikaku said as he moved a piece that Shikamaru overlooked to trap his "King", winning the game.

But Shikamaru wasn't paying attention to that. He was going back in his mind to those moments he decided to hold back. He knew that Ino was about to vehemently protest his decisions at one point, something he was now starting to question himself. He thought he had the situation under relative control, but he never saw the dangers that came with that approach. The thought that he could have been responsible for further harm due to inaction was disturbing him to his core.

Seeing that his son got the point, he reached out and patted his shoulder. "Do not be disheartened, son. In fact, be thankful that you've learned a very valuable lesson in strategy and tactics without needing to pay a price of the permanent kind that usually comes with it. I can see in your eyes that you can imagine the 'what-ifs' of your mistakes already, that is good. Learn from this, but don't over-think things, and grow as a leader.

"But I don't particularly want to be a leader." Shikamaru admitted, looking out to the lantern-lit garden outside the room.

"That may be. But as a Nara, you are gifted with a brilliant mind, and brilliant minds are those that lead others. There's no doubt in my mind you'll be among the first Chunin of your generation. As such, you will find yourself leading and/or working with others from your class. You need to be ready for the responsibilities that comes with the title and role."

Leaning back, Shikaku continued, "Next time, trust more in your comrades' abilities to handle themselves and the tasks at hand. But don't act carelessly either. Find a good balance for every situation you face."

Shikamaru nodded.

"Now, what say you resume where you left off?" Shikaku softly urged his son to resume his story.

He did so, and Shikaku listened with rapt attention as he told of Naruto's astonishing recovery and subsequent battle with one of his former teachers, finishing with the breaking of Mizuki's bones, the Hokage's entrance to the area and Naruto's promotion.

"Quite fascinating, that Naruto." Shikaku mused loudly.

"That's one way of putting it." Shikamaru smirked.

"Of course, you know that you are to keep the things surrounding Naruto secret?"

"Of course, the Hokage himself said that this entire thing is classified in various ways."

"That's not what I meant. I mean Naruto's abilities were a point of secrecy the entire time he was in the academy, was it not?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, the only possible conclusion we can reach from that is that it is a clan secret or something similar to that."

"Yeah, he told us as much. Only, it was because his sensei said so, not that it was a clan thing specifically. But that doesn't mean that it isn't."

"Well, there you have it then. I would venture a guess and say you will see more of his abilities in the future as you work with him anyway. And you are now, as a Shinobi of Konoha, under law to keep anything you see to yourself unless you need to explain things in a report to the Hokage or another superior. It is up to Naruto from now on if he wants to disclose his abilities to the general public."

"I figured as much. Not that I would have blabbed about it if I wasn't under the law."

"That's my boy." Shikaku said proudly. "Are your friends aware of the same?"

"They are all perfectly aware of that particular rule, anything with at least a possible death-penalty attached to it is something they are aware of." Shikamaru replied dryly.

"The threat of death usually makes people remember things better." Shikaku humorously pointed out.

"What do you make of Naruto's abilities?" Shikamaru asked.

"They are apparently tremendously effective." Was the simple reply.

"Not what I meant, dad."

"I know as much as you do in this matter, Shikamaru, and you stand a better chance to learn more of them than I do. So why ask?"

"They seem so... unique and unorthodox compared to just about any other clan specialty or kekkei genkai (bloodline limit) that I can't help but wonder if someone's heard of them before somewhere."

"If that is the case, I certainly have no knowledge of them or their origins." Shikaku shrugged. "Now, what did you want to discuss regarding your graduation?"

"Well, you recall how I told you of Iruka-sensei's reasons for flunking Naruto?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"It seems to me that the system is flawed to the point that it seems to be damaging our village's capacity to grow in strength."

Shikaku raised an eyebrow in interest. "How do you figure that, Shikamaru?"

"Can't you see? It is pretty rigid in its rules and has no leeway for special cases. All it seems to be about is making sure the best of the best graduate. That seems to me to be elitist thinking, and I'm far from being an elite. Naruto was more efficient in just about everything and he flunked on a minor thing. Another thing that didn't sit well with me was that a member of a senior class named Rock Lee was allowed a special exam at the request of a Jounin who learned of his case. Why him and not Naruto?"

"Since it was requested from a Jounin with no ties to the student in question it was deemed acceptable. The system is in place to weed out the unsuitable from the ones that are."

"I know that, but like you said to me before, that way of thinking seems to have gotten too far. Hell, Sasuke actually mentioned to me while we were looking for Naruto after all was said and done that he was frustrated that all this happened because the system was flawed. I asked him to elaborate and he told me that what the academy taught about the Will of Fire doesn't seem to apply to itself."

Shikaku was taken aback by that idea. "Meaning?"

"Meaning that they had no consideration for Naruto, who had potential galore, when making its decisions. If this is how they treat possible future shinobi with considerable promise but had small flaws that could have been worked on and corrected by future Jounin senseis, then I simply cannot agree that the Will of Fire sentiment is within the very academy that teaches it. If they had it, they would make exceptions for promising ninja or kunoichi. I know for a fact exceptions has been made in the field in the spirit of the Will of Fire. So why not here? Why not practice what you preach?"

As much as he tried, Shikaku could find nothing faulty with Shikamaru's logic. "I understand that the system is flawed, but no system is foolproof."

"But that doesn't excuse ignoring flaws when they are discovered. Flaws are meant to be dealt with."

Rubbing his scalp, the same way his son did before, and sighing, Shikaku was silent for a good minute before re-affixing his gaze on his son. "You are correct, of course. I don't see how in this case, though. The system is as old as the village itself." The elder of the two looked contemplatively at nothing in particular. "I will have to discuss this with Hokage-sama at the next council meeting." Shikaku sighed as he once again rubbed his scalp.

"That's all I would ask of you about it." Shikamaru nodded in appreciation.

"You're awfully passionate about this?" Shikaku noted.

"One of my close and gifted friends was almost not made a ninja because of this deficiency, and it is something that is highly important for him. I may be lazy and usually non-committing in many things, but like any proud Nara, I stick up for my friends."

Giving his son a proud look, Shikaku nodded and rose. "Well, I can't do much until morning, what say you we get some shut-eye?"

"There's nothing else I would rather do right now." Shikamaru agreed with a lazy shrug. To which Shikaku chuckled mildly. With nothing further to talk about, they went to bed and did what any Nara do best, sleep.


	37. New Branch for the Leaf

Chapter 36: New Branch for the Leaf

Morning came, as it must everyday. With each morning came the nagging voice of Shikamaru's mother.

Looking at the clock, which said 0630, Shikamaru groaned. "What a drag. I'm awake, I'm awake!"

"You'd better be, Shikamaru!" Came her voice from the hallway outside his room. The usual routine was his mother starting the wake-up process already at 0530 to force Shikamaru to wake up early enough to get to the academy at 0730, being in a team later on would mean little difference for the young Nara. His mother wanted to keep with the routine as to not allow him to slack in the gap between graduation and team assignment... too much.

"I have something to do this early anyway." He groaned as he sat up on the bed.

Silence met him for a minute before she opened the door and looked upon her son with a worried gaze.

"Son, are you ill?" She asked concerned.

"What? No, what made you think I was?"

"You never get up this early voluntarily, for anything."

"Troublesome. Believe me, mom, this will not be a common occurrence. I just need to get up this early to be there for a friend of mine."

A pleasant smile came upon his mother who then spoke softly to him. "I'm proud of you, Shikamaru. You'd best get up and get to it then." She then closed the door to allow him to get up in peace.

'She was... gentle this time. Perhaps I should make an effort to wake up early on my own and have her be just as gentle each morning?' Shikamaru pondered. 'Naw, the drag would be too much to bear.'

Later, outside the the entrance to the Hokage tower at 0655.

"Here he comes." Sakura noted to the rest of the group, who had all gathered by that time.

"Sorry I was almost late." Shikamaru apologized with a lazy expression.

"As long as you're on time, it's all good." Kiba replied.

"Any last minute considerations before we head in?"

Everyone shook their heads. They then went in as soon as the door unlocked and went straight for the Leafs leader's office. Once they arrived where the secretary sat, still a tad drowsy from the early hour, she looked upon the group.

"*Yawn* Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes, miss. Though I'm not sure as to what we're called. The Rookies or something perhaps. Last night I was told to have us all report in to the Hokage this morning, no specific time." Shikamaru answered.

The secretary perused through the schedule. She giggled a bit before looking up once again.

"You're called 'the youngsters'." Everyone sweat-dropped at that. "And he will see you momentarily, he's in an early meeting."

"Already? We entered as soon as the doors opened." Shino asked.

"You didn't think that the Hokage started working at exactly 0700 did you? He starts at 0600 everyday and has a smaller meeting with his Jounin and the night guard every morning before meeting with any special guests. The doors for general errands open at 0700."

"It is logical now that you explained it to us." Shino nodded.

"So who's he meeting with right now?" Ino asked.

"I believe he's meeting with Naruto-san's sensei, Yokai-san." She answered cheerfully.

"I think we'd like to talk to him as well." Shikamaru commented.

"Yes, but that will, of course, have to wait until they are finished in there." The secretary answered politely.

Just then, the intercom buzzed and the Hokage asked the secretary if anyone has arrived yet.

"Yes, sir. The *giggle* 'youngsters' are here to see you."

"Very well, send them whippersnappers in, please." He called through the intercom, making to sound as if he was a stereotypical old fart.

The secretary allowed them to pass, trying and failing to hold in her laughter. They went in, some quietly grumbling about geriatrics and their antics.

They entered to the scene of the Hokage guffawing and Yokai laughing at their expense.

"Whippersnappers? Really?" Sakura grumbled.

"Now, now. Old men like me have to have their slice of fun every once in a while." The Hokage chuckled.

"I'm guessing you and Yokai-san here were discussing Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

As Yokai went to answer, they noticed the Hokage making a strange face they didn't know what it meant. As Yokai spoke, however, they could guess why.

"Not this time, me and the old man here were talking about something else." Yokai answered.

"What's that?" Kiba asked.

"Something other than Naruto." Yokai simply responded.

"Secret stuff, gotcha." Kiba then nodded.

"Hokage-sama, we were wondering if we would be allowed to wait for Naruto-san to arrive for his scheduled meeting with you this morning." Shino approached.

"I take it you couldn't find him last night?"

Sheepish faces went all around the group. "Err... no. None of us have, surprisingly, learned where he lived. And Shino's bugs, which we used to find him last time, were not on him anymore." Kiba explained.

"Would I be correct in assuming that you wanted to find him an congratulate him for passing the exam?" Yokai asked with a smile.

They all turned to the, now sheepish, Hokage. Apparently they hadn't gone over the details of that yet.

"Um... Yeah, sure." Shikamaru replied.

Raising an eyebrow at the peculiar hesitation, Yokai called him on it. "Something the matter?"

Sighing in resignation to the inevitable, Sarutobi addressed Yokai. "Perhaps you should sit down, Yokai-san."

"Uh, oh. What has Naruto done this time?" Yokai complied and asked the Hokage with a sour face.

The Hokage told him everything from his point of view and the rookies told from their point of view once everything was said by the Hokage. Yokai was scared for Naruto when the part came about the big shuriken strike and the Kyuubi, but was reassured as the story progressed and greatly pleased to learn that Naruto's words and actions then and in the past have garnered him loyal friends.

Once all was said, Yokai was silent for a good while, looking at nothing.

"Yokai-san, are you alright?" Hiruzen gently prodded his secret colleague verbally.

"I don't know whether to be proud of the kid or want to strangle the brat." Yokai answered. "Before I decide that, I must say that your exam system leaves much to be desired." He then fixed a disapproving gaze upon the old Sarutobi.

"I've learned as much from Shikaku-san earlier this morning. Apparently some people have voiced their displeasure of the system." The Hokage glanced at Sasuke and Shikamaru, though no negative emotions were on his face. "We will go over the details and possibly revise the system at some point soon."

"Oh. Okay, as long you're doing that much." Yokai said. "Now then... I'M GONNA KILL THAT BRAT WHEN HE GETS HERE!" He then suddenly roared, which caused everyone to stagger back in shock and fear, save the Hokage.

Said old man tried to placate the upset man. "Yokai-san, please control yourself. If you're going to be angry at anyone, be so at me. I was the one who came up with and approved the plan."

"I'm not displeased with the brat's conduct. I'm proud of him for doing all that he did, not to mention managing to 'pass' the exam AND get promoted at the same time. It just frustrates me to no end that he keeps getting..."

"Yokai-san!" Sarutobi then interrupted with a harsh tone. Realizing he was about to reveal classified information in his tantrum, Yokai calmed down and then became a bit sheepish.

"Keeps getting what?" Ino asked.

"Nothing important, young Yamanaka." Sarutobi waved off with a smile. Hinata, though, had a feeling she knew what Yokai was referring to. But it sounded as if there was more than the two events she knew of that Naruto was some part of. Little did she know of his deeds in the Uchiha Massacre.

Sasuke was in the same boat, only he was not aware of Hinata's kidnapping.

Shikamaru, ever the sharp observer, took notice of what Yokai was about to say. 'It sounded like "keeps getting into trouble." He also wasn't too surprised about this whole ordeal. What could Naruto possibly have...'

But it struck him like a bolt of lightning.

'Oh, don't tell me he was involved in the massacre too?' He thought with slightly widened eyes, which no one present noticed. 'That's got to be it. There's nothing else that either comes close to or surpasses the level of troublesome the Uchiha massacre had than this.'

He quickly deduced that Naruto somehow got involved and was on the side of the village. But what actually happened, he couldn't even hazard a guess.

"At any rate. You may stay and... ambush him and tell him you still are his friends. In fact, I'll give you his address so you can visit him." The Hokage spoke while Shikamaru was pondering this.

"That's another thing, why hasn't he told where he lives or invited any of us?" Kiba asked. Several nods accompanying that statement.

Yokai answered that with a neck rub. "Well, his living conditions are not the best and he was most likely not proud of it so he probably made it a point to spend any time with you anywhere as long as it wasn't there."

"Why hasn't he moved to someplace else then?" Sakura asked.

"He hasn't had the money to. And as much as I would like to, I cannot set aside the funds to help him live in a better place than where he is at currently. I have no doubt, though, that he will rectify that issue on his own when he starts getting an income."

Hinata was looking particularly down for Naruto's situation. She wondered what the Fourth Hokage would say about all this. Chouji, ever the sensitive guy, came and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hinata, what's wrong?"

"I... just wondered... what would the Fourth... say to Naruto's treatment?" She asked, looking down and poking her index fingers together.

Yokai looked to Sarutobi who looked back at him briefly before looking back at the group. "I don't know what he would say, but I am certain that he would not be happy with Naruto's current situation. He was supposed to be hailed as a hero for keeping the fox demon at bay every day for the rest of his life."

"Then why did no one honor it?" Shino spoke, a tad quieter than usual.

Ino spoke, being the one with the better education in psychology of the Genin gathered. "It is as Naruto-kun himself said when confronting Mizuki. The people, and even a few ninja as Mizuki is clear evidence of, don't understand the workings of seals. What is not understood, is feared. It is only compounded by the fact that Naruto is the container of the very thing that took so much from them, including the Fourth himself. It was simply too much for them to handle."

Hinata narrowed her eyes slightly, almost imperceptibly, at Ino's affectionate suffix for Naruto.

"Wow, you can be insightful when you want to be, Pig." Sakura said.

"With the size of your forehead, Forehead, I'm surprised you didn't reach this conclusion before the whole group." Ino bit back with narrowed eyes.

"Who said I didn't?" Sakura smugly shot back.

"When is Naruto due to arrive here?" Sasuke cut in before the argument could escalate.

The old leader produced a watch from his chest pocket and read the time. "He is due any minute now, I suggest you get into 'ambush' positions. I only ask you to wait until my discussion with him is finished before surprising him."

"Why then? Do you not wish to discuss whatever you wish to in private with him first?" Shikamaru questioned.

"The fact of the matter is, it will involve you all in certain ways. So, to avoid me having to repeat myself, you get the general idea before you and I will iron out the details later." Sarutobi explained.

"Intriguing." Shino commented.

Just then, the secretary called on the intercom to notify the Hokage that Naruto had arrived to speak with him as scheduled. Without wasting time, the entire group hid and masked their signatures to the best of their ability. Yokai remained where he was.

Naruto entered and gave a smile to his leader and his sensei. But they could see through it, he was still very saddened and troubled.

"Welcome, Naruto-kun. Once again, congratulations on completing your first assignment last night." The Hokage spoke happily.

"And for your subsequent promotion. You've done well, my boy." Yokai then added with a proud grin.

"Thank you, jiji, sensei." Naruto responded with a bow and less than enthusiastic tone.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" Yokai asked, raising an eyebrow in concern. While also a bit of an act, the concern was genuine.

"I'm fine, sensei. Thanks for asking." Naruto answered with a dismissal wave.

Frowning a fraction at the display, Hiruzen started the meeting. "Right then. Naruto-kun. As I mentioned last night, we needed to talk a bit about your responsibilities, and benefits, as a Special Genin."

Yokai then took over. "While your promotion and what made it possible weren't part of the plan, it certainly was a boon. Me and Hokage-sama have been discussing for several months about you and me forming Konoha's first infiltration specialization unit once you graduated."

"Infiltration specialization unit? Aren't ninjas all infiltrators and all that?"

"Technically, yes they are." Yokai began. "But the truth is, from the first ninjas that came to be, to this point in history, we've gone from stealthy, lethal assassins, spies and saboteurs to flashy powerhouses that have, more or less, taken over the role of the samurai of old, without many of their codes of conduct. The art of stealthy and precise operations have been more or less lost. While ninjas still perform such duties today, they are much less efficient in it compared to their ancient predecessors, I dare say. Even ANBU, while more impressive in this field, are still not quite what they could be in terms of subterfuge.

Since my clan have kept up the tradition of valuing the skills and arts of stealth, espionage and other related tasks, I have proposed to Hokage-sama that while he keeps the modern style ninja as they have been for the longest time, you and I will form a new unit that specializes in what we do best. In time, it is meant to strengthen Konoha in its ability to do covert ops. Giving you an edge in the ability to sabotage your foes."

Naruto nodded, his woes temporarily forgotten as he took in the new information.

"Cool. How would be go about doing this?" Naruto asked, a bit more of the old him showing.

The Hokage chose to answer. "With you being deducted from the Genin pool due to this formation, there's a gap in our team forming plans. We were thinking of, in this particular year, instead of forming four man teams, senseis included, that we would have three man teams. This would mean that we have an extra team to work with. Yokai-san has volunteered to be a part-time sensei for one of these teams while also part-timing as your sensei and leader in this new unit."

Yokai took over. "The plan includes to have the groups occasionally meet so they can get used to working with different members at different times. When the time comes for them to move out to perform C-rank or higher missions, they will be four men teams, consisting of someone from another team, or even two whole teams at once, depending on the difficulty. If a mission requires an infiltration specialist..." Yokai left it hanging.

"... Then I would be part of that team." Naruto concluded as he thought about the idea. "What if two, or more, separate missions requires infiltration specialists?"

Yokai replied. "We are hoping that at least a few of your classmates would be interested in at least partially learn the arts of infiltration in more detail. Freeing you up as the senior member and foremost expert in the unit, besides myself, to partake in those missions that require one better suited for it."

"How do you determine what missions need a certain level of skill?"

"I have a system I've introduced to Hokage-sama and I will go through it with him for each mission. Don't worry, it's a proven system." Yokai said. He then turned to Sarutobi. "I meant to ask, what do you think are the chances your Chunin, Jounin or ANBU would be willing to train to sharpen their stealth skills or become part of this unit?"

"Some of the mainstay forces, meaning Chunin or Jounin, are too set in their ways to start training in that field. Certain individuals that have focused somewhat more on secrecy and stealth might be persuaded to at least attempt to learn from you. ANBU might be the best chance at gaining some volunteers to improve their subtlety. But the fact is that ANBU are, more often than not, required to use flashy and destructive jutsu to accomplish their objectives. They are basically Jounin with black-ops as a focus. Discretion has never been the main focus of any section of our military."

"Then it's about time you got a unit that the enemy will never see coming, nor going." Yokai commented.

"I look forward to it, but I can't see it becoming a large unit in the near future." Sarutobi said.

"It doesn't need to be large, the best infiltration units are those that are small. One man or woman from our clan can infiltrate a single fortress and have a greater chance of success at accomplishing the objectives than a team of ANBU, more silently too. But if it does get larger, it's good, to a point."

"To a point?" Naruto asked.

"Well, if it becomes large enough to rival ANBU or the Jounin echelon of ninja in numbers, then we risk not increasing their skills as much as we could. Even larger than that and you'd get no better in the field than what you've already got with this village's setup. It is often better to have a smaller amount of dedicated men and women to make sure the skills are as sharp as can be."

"But you said your people have specialized in this field, sensei. Wouldn't that mean that they were many?"

"True, but the whole village back then focused on that field, there wasn't anyone that practiced the ninja arts the way everyone else does today. Meaning there was enough room to accommodate many more students, apprentices, teachers and masters and so on."

Both Naruto and the Fire Shadow nodded at that. Naruto then asked what was on his mind next. "Between missions with teams, what will I be doing?"

"Besides training in new abilities and honing your skills, we are hoping that you might train any fresh volunteers what they can learn from you in our field." Yokai stated.

"Don't worry too much, Naruto-kun. You'll get your chance to go on missions pertaining your skill set sooner than you think, I have no doubt of that."

"Will I get paid for training others?" Naruto questioned.

"Of course, we can't expect you to do that and not get compensated. There might be gaps in stealth missions after all." Sarutobi replied.

"Okay, sounds good. How do I advance in rank?"

"That's a bit special. You carry two ranks." Yokai responded.

"Two ranks?" Naruto exclaimed, wide eyed.

"Yes. As luck would have it, both ranks happen to be the same level for you currently, Tokubetsu Genin. One is your rank within the Konoha ninja ranking system, since you're still a part of their forces. That rank is advanced the way they have always done it, mainly through the Chunin exams. The other rank you bear is one my clan uses to determine where your skills are within the arts of infiltration."

Hiruzen took over. "Basically, you could, in theory, be a Genin in rank in our system while in your internal system you could be Jounin. Yokai has explained it to me that since your way of the ninja is considered... unsophisticated by today's standards, they simply cannot be sufficiently comparable. Hence, I've allowed a parallel ranking system to be established to signify how good one is in the respective field of skill. There's no system 'better' than the other to advance in, do you understand?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I gotcha, jiji, sensei. Will I go on solo missions?"

"As a matter of fact, you most likely will. Even from the get-go. But it all depends on the skill estimation the mission lands within. If it's above your level, either I do it or we do it together."

"I would like to do as many solo missions as often as possible then. And when a team needs an infiltration expert, I will not be, officially, assigned to them." Naruto stated.

Both men looked at the boy, both eyebrows raised.

"Why, Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi asked worriedly.

"Because I... need to disappear from the village at large and disappear from my former classmates lives... for a while at least." Naruto explained, tilting his head to the floor a bit. "I also don't want to be their teacher of our arts. Anyone outside of my graduating class is fine but..."

Yokai looked sternly at Naruto. "Naruto, our way of the ninja is not a means to an end for your personal problems, nor is the village's way of the ninja."

"It isn't about me!" Naruto hotly returned. "My friends found out last night what I am, at the same time as I did. They hate me now! I saw it in their eyes, eyes accusing me of being the beast itself." This surprised the Genin. None of them recalled ever throwing such a look his way.

"Naruto-kun, I..." Sarutobi began but was interrupted by Naruto. "Although they hate me, although I'm not their friend anymore. I still treasure them dearly." Naruto spoke as his eyes moistened. "So if it is all I can do, I will protect them from the shadows. To do all that I can to make sure that they live and have as safe a life as I can help it. And they don't have to stand my presence any longer than necessary." Naruto finished his declaration, voice trembling and tears streaming down his face.

The Genin in hiding ached to come out at that time.

The eyes of the Hokage and Yokai softened and took on a sorrowful expression at the display of the now crying Naruto who was trying, and failing, to not openly weep.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back for the hidden spectators. One by one, they emerged from their various hiding spots and softly approached the quietly sobbing boy, who didn't notice them.

Naruto, trying his best to reign in his emotions, suddenly felt a hand firmly grasp his shoulder. Turning around, he saw something that was both a joy and a horror to see. There stood all his classmates, looking at him.

Naruto was so shocked that he lost balance and fell on his bottom. At first, Naruto's first thought was to run away. But before he could act on that notion, he took a closer look at his friends' faces. They were not looking at him with disgust or anger. Instead, they had faces of sadness and worry.

He couldn't help but be surprised.

"Wh... what's...?" Naruto tried to speak.

Kiba, who was the one to alert Naruto to their presence, answered.

"What's going on? Well, dog. It's like this..." Kiba began in a careful yet slightly macho manner, as he crouched down to eye level with the floored Naruto. "when we last saw you, you kind ran away before any of us could say anything about the whole mess."

Sasuke, walking up to stand beside Kiba, then took over. "Did you really think we would hold your newly discovered status against you?"

Shino then added. "If so, then I must point out the error of your illogical way of thinking. All evidence point out the fact that you are the demon's container. Your actions and the actions of the demon are easily differentiated."

Shikamaru put in the finish. "Therefore, as troublesome as this all is, we had to find you and let you know we are still very much your friends."

The rest of them nodded with smiles.

Naruto blinked, causing previously unshed tears to run down his cheeks. He looked at each and everyone of his friends. There was no hint of any lie in their tones, no trace of malice in their faces.

"You guys... you don't... hate me?" Naruto asked with poorly contained hope.

Ino came up to him and embraced him, much to Hinata's ire since she wanted to be the one to do that. "No, Naruto-kun. If anything, all of us have an even greater respect for you.

'And love too.' Hinata and Ino thought simultaneously.

"But... what about the look I saw before?" Naruto asked bewildered.

"What look?" Sakura inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"The look Shikamaru gave when he said you guys knew." Naruto supplied, steadily calming down.

Shikamaru was flabbergasted. "What look are you talking about?!"

"You had a dark look of scorn when you said that." Naruto said.

"Wait, was it like this?" Shikamaru said and then made a face for all to see.

"Yeah, like that."

"*Sigh* Naruto, that's my 'This is a colossal drag' face."

"So let me get this straight." Sakura said with a twitching eyebrow. "This whole mess was because Naruto mistook one of your annoyed and lazy faces for hating him?"

"I'd say that about sums it up." Sasuke nodded.

Sakura and Ino then rounded on Shikamaru. "You couldn't have been more considerate of his situation and act more concerned than annoyed you lazy good-for-nothing sloth?!" Ino growled.

"Oi, oi. He was just as much at fault for only looking at me and not the rest of you!" Shikamaru backed up while making placating gestures.

"He's right." Naruto said, effectively halting the angered females' advance. "I was too shaken to think rationally. I'm sorry about all this, and I'm sorry for not trusting you more."

This time, Hinata capitalized on the opportunity to comfort her secret love and hugged him softly. "You h-have n-nothing... to b-be sorry f-for, N-Naruto-kun."

"Yeah, no one is blaming you, dog." Kiba added with a gentle man-slap on Naruto's shoulder.

Immensely relived and happy for having his friends back, no, for never losing them in the first place, Naruto returned the hug from Hinata with gusto and laughed happily while a couple of tears of happiness ran down.

After a few moments of reveling in the feeling, he noted that Chouji hadn't said anything yet.

"Chouji?" Naruto addressed the rotund Genin. All eyes turned to the boy. "What do you say to all this?"

Chouji approached Naruto. Looking him straight in the eye with a very scrutinizing gaze.

"You eat Ichiraku ramen as if it's Kami's gift to man. That's good enough of an indication that you're alright in my book." He then said with a big grin. Never in the history of the Hokage's office had there been so many face-plants as that day. Naruto, however, just grinned in response and bumped fists with the food loving ninja.

"That's your measuring tool?!" Ino asked annoyed and confounded.

"What and how much he eats?!" Sakura asked, just as irritated and confused.

"That's Chouji for you." Shikamaru commented with a knowing smirk as Naruto laughed and Chouji just smiled and scratched his cheek in mild embarrassment.

"*Ahem*" The Hokage cleared his throat to gain the attention of the Genin. "I'm proud of you for the fact that my faith in the next generation was proven to be well placed. You have all shown that you are indeed wielders of the Will of Fire for accepting Naruto despite the terrible, dark burden he has had to carry his whole life."

Everyone either proudly grinned or smiled with blushes at the praise from their village leader.

"Now that this is behind us, let us move on to the next item on the agenda. I know all here has heard every word of what me and Yokai-san here has discussed with Naruto. We are very interested to know whether any of you are interested in joining this new branch of shinobi."

With the mess all cleared up, everyone could focus their thoughts regarding the offer. One response came after only a few seconds.

"I'll join." Shino announced, stepping forward.

"Join? As in full time, not part time or just to refine your stealth related skills?" Inquired Yokai.

"Indeed, my present abilities are best suited for reconnaissance and tracking as well as assassination or incapacitation. I've done the required training for combat but it is still lacking for anything but self-defense. It is my firm belief that I am suited for this new endeavor. It would allow me to sharpen my abilities to the point I rarely would need to fight a battle yet be a very capable combatant should the need arise." Shino elaborated with a push of his glasses.

Kiba looked oddly at Shino. "Why is it you either say next to nothing or you can barely stop?"

"As I have said before, I speak only when, and what is, necessary." Shino flatly stated.

Naruto threw in his five ryo, "I think Shino would be a great member of the team since he's a silent guy and efficient. He's by-the-book when possible but can think outside the box when faced with something out of the ordinary. He's a tactician too, so he can plan ahead and think quickly when faced with surprising developments. Definitely an assassin style ninja with a secondary skill-set for scouting."

Both the Hokage and Yokai nodded in agreement. "I've already got a few ideas of how to set up your training regimen. Welcome aboard, Aburame Shino." Yokai declared with a handshake with the mushi-nin.

"Anyone else like to join or just improve themselves?" Hiruzen queried.

Sasuke approached the Hokage's desk. "I'm interested in being a part-time member." He stated.

"What is your reasoning and what are your skills?" Asked Yokai.

"I'm a evenly skilled in all areas, but my focus lies with combat, mainly taijutsu and ninjutsu, and trap-making and ninja-tools. I want to be a member because I want to be able to get the drop on my enemies, especially those stronger than me, and take them out efficiently before they become a problem."

Yokai studied Sasuke before nodding. "Very well, but I also think you should be trained in infiltration. To be able to enter hostile territory, move about unnoticed and spy on our enemies, sabotage their assets and exfiltrate."

Naruto piped up again, with a grin. "He'd probably make a good spy in the open at times too. He's got one of those rich pretty-boy faces that can help him ingratiate himself to businessmen and other important figures."

Growling, Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Rich pretty-boy? Why do I get the feeling you're mocking me, saying that?"

"Me? Naaaw, not me." Naruto widely grinned back. "I'm just stating facts. No one else but fancy-pantsy rich boys have hairdos that resembles a goose's ass."

Uproarious laughter erupted from the boys and giggles were heard from Hinata and Ino while Sakura blushed as she tried to contain her mirth at the accurate description. Sasuke fumed.

"It's supposed to be practical, it provides less wind-resistance while running." He defended, which turned out to only fuel the fire.

"So does trimming it down to the scalp, Goose." Naruto teased with a smirk.

"Alright, enough!" The Hokage ordered silence, while containing his own chuckle. "Yokai-san?"

"Well, Naruto has a point. Sometimes you have to, basically, hide in plain sight. But that isn't exactly our area of expertise since we deal with the shadow part of infiltrations. He can benefit from our training, but what Naruto suggested would come more from your side of the shinobi force."

"So Sasuke's part-time membership is a good idea?" Asked the Sandaime.

"It is."

"Well then, let's go with that and I'll have one of our own... specialists take care of undercover training for Sasuke."

"Who's that, jiji?"

"Can't tell you, Naruto-kun. He's so dedicated in the undercover art that he is always undercover."

"Oooh, I like this guy already." Naruto commented.

"Anyone else?" Yokai asked.

Kiba stepped forward. "I'd like to give it a shot. I like to think me and Akamaru are sneaky already, but my mom always says that there's no such thing as being too sneaky when being a ninja. Given what I've heard about you guys, I doubt even she knew how right she was. We are fierce in combat but our main asset would be our tracking ability and our sense of smell."

"You're a scout ninja then, with a secondary for diversion." Yokai said.

"Diversion?" Wondered Kiba.

"Well, as of right now, I can't say you seem to be an infiltration ninja, but you are an obvious choice for scouting and reconnaissance, like your Aburame friend. As for diversionary duty, if, say, Naruto had to infiltrate someplace but could use a distraction to draw attention away from his area then you would be a good choice to sneak in someplace and make a mess without actually being found yourself."

"Huh, yeah. I can see me and Akamaru doing stuff like that." Kiba smirked.

"Anyone else?"

No one else came forward.

"Very good. The offer is always open in case you change your mind." Said Yokai. "What do we do with team placements, Hokage-sama?"

"Only Shino has opted for full-time membership, which leaves us with 3 part timers and 5 regular Genin."

"5 steady and 3 loose." Yokai summarized in thought.

"Yes. For certain we have one full team and 2 members without a third. When available, the others would make it 2 teams and 2 members without a third."

After a few moments of consideration, Yokai spoke his mind. "Would you be willing to allow for an experimentation with these Genin?"

Raising a brow, the Third Hokage silently asked him to elaborate. "You see, we could have the Genin that remain simply be one big group, loose members included. We could assign 2 or more senseis to supervise their training as they see fit, once they are given guidelines set up by you and me regarding this novel approach."

"What about mission assignments?"

"I'd put the decision to you, of course. But since you asked, I'd think that depending on the predicted difficulty you could have the basic three man team or you could assign more Genin as you suspect might be necessary and according to their individual skills."

Shikamaru decided to add his opinion. "As troublesome as this new method sounds, it is nonetheless a good idea. We're a tight nit group as it is anyway, we would have little to no problem working in any combination you would set up, personal chemistry wise. Skill wise, it would help that we get used to working with each others' abilities so we can make combos without having to give it much thought or effort."

"Excellent point, Shikamaru-san. That is one of the points we will put on the guidelines list. Would you perhaps be interested in participating in its creation?"

Sighing, Shikamaru nodded. "It will be a drag, but anything to lessen any future problems is in everyone's best interest."

"Splendid!" The Hokage said happily. "I guess that ends our discussion for today. All of you 'loose' members return here in a week's time to discuss further your place in our shinobi forces. The rest of you are to report in to the academy as planned. Also, let me remind you to keep quiet about what we've discussed, all of it. Until I deem it safe, we are not to reveal this project to anyone who is not privy to this information."

"Understood, Hokage-sama/Jiji." Everyone chorused (guess who said "Jiji").

"Dismissed!" The Hokage declared. The group then exited the office to do as they pleased the rest of the day.

"Interesting bunch, them Genin." Yokai commented.

"Agreed. I have a feeling they will become something very special in the future."

"And I'll be there to help them become that." Yokai nodded with a confident smile.


	38. Learning & Teaching

Chapter 37: Learning & Teaching

The group of teenage ninja had left their village leader's building only a minute after exiting his office. Naruto was about to take his leave and go do his routine for the day, meaning training, eating, even more training, eat some more and then sleeping, when Sakura grabbed his shoulder and turned him around harder then necessary but not harshly.

"Where do you think you're going, Naruto?" She asked in a tone Naruto didn't quite know how to identify. It was like a blend of sarcasm, kindness and irritation all together.

"To do my stuff for the day, what else?" He replied simply, but with a hint of uncertainty.

"No you're not." She stated firmly.

"I'm not?"

"Nope, not until we've learned what we want."

'Learned what they want?' Naruto asked himself. "You're the bookworm in our group. What could I know that you don't already?"

"I'm not a bookworm." She defended with a low growl.

A unanimous cough that sounded like "Bullshit!" came from the group in perfect unison.

"Right, and Akamaru is actually a lapdog instead of a ninken (ninja dog)." Naruto sarcastically retorted. Said dog snorted in mild disgust at the idea.

"I'm not a bookworm! I just like to learn stuff. It's sort of like a hobby."

"All that learning requires books. With the amount of reading you've done you've learned tons." Shikamaru commented with a knowing smirk.

"Um... Shikamaru, knowledge doesn't weigh anything." Chouji pointed out.

"It does when it is found in books, it' so troublesome to carry knowledge in that form."Shikamaru said, to which Chouji nodded in agreement.

"Alright!" Sakura exclaimed exasperatedly. "Fine, so I'm a bookworm! It's one of the things I've got on you all." Sakura stated somewhat haughtily with crossed arms.

"It's the ONLY thing you've got on any of us, that and your massive forehead, Forehead." Ino taunted.

Before the argument could escalate, Shino butted in. "If I may, we're getting very off topic."

"Yeah, you're right." Sakura agreed, immediately focusing on the matter at hand, which was Naruto. "Naruto, we're here to learn where you live."

Letting out a small grunt in surprised disbelief, Naruto looked at her with wide eyes.

"Huh? Why do you want to know that?"

"Isn't it obvious, Naruto?" She asked with some disbelief of her own. "We're your friends, of course we want to know where you live."

"Save for Hinata, you haven't cared to learn before." Naruto pointed out. While he honestly didn't mean it in a harsh way, it still stung the group, with the exception of Hinata. Only she had tried to ask him before, which he, every time, evaded answering.

"Well, we..." Sakura began, but it was hard to explain her reason for not learning, since it would involve sensitive matters.

Ino, sensing her discomfort, decided to jump in and save her the trouble. "We're embarrassed to say that it slipped all our minds, all this time. But in hindsight we all would have, long ago, liked to learn where you live."

"As friends, we should know where you live." Shino said.

Rubbing his neck, Naruto looked both mildly dismayed and embarrassed. "Well, it's not entirely your fault either. I've actively avoided telling anybody, including Hinata. That's why even she doesn't know."

"We know, dobe." Sasuke said in his stoic tone. "Sandaime-sama and Yokai-sensei told of your living conditions and that you are most likely ashamed of it. I couldn't care less about that since it has nothing to do with your worth as a person."

"N-nor would I c-care a-about that, Naruto-kun." Hinata piped up.

"None of us do." Chouji added with a shake of his head.

Raising his hands in defeat, but smiling in appreciation, Naruto agreed to take them to his home. But not without giving a fair warning that it wasn't pretty.

And pretty it sure was not. The building was run-down and even had visible points of disrepair. It appeared that the landlord wasn't taking any interest in keeping the building in good condition. Graffiti and smudges marred the walls, stairs and walkways leading to a row of apartment doors of which Naruto's was among.

Nobody failed to notice that some of the graffiti was unmistakably anti-kyuubi in nature. While such punk-art weren't uncommon in Konoha, even in finer neighborhoods (though they were removed as soon as discovered there), it was rather obvious to everyone that it was more concentrated in this particular place.

There was nothing that directly implicated that Naruto was Kyuubi, but the message was rather clear anyway, to anyone who knew already of Naruto's tenant. Naruto himself had noticed the graffiti motifs but shrugged it off as anything else the streets punks paint. It wasn't until after he learned that he was the living prison that the meaning hit home. It certainly was the hardest morning that morning, when the daylight illuminated the graffiti, that Naruto ever had. It served as a reminder of how he had lost his friends.

Now, though, with his friends back, no, with his friends never lost to begin with, it was nothing more than a representation of what Naruto was facing with the villagers. Their hatred of the beast and, by proxy, their misguided hatred of him. Where the day began with the graffiti wounding his heart further, it evolved into a daily challenge to face and overcome the hatred, to work diligently at changing their views.

As Naruto realized this while passing it all by, it amazed him just how things can fundamentally change with precious people around you, supporting you.

"You know, Naruto, you could always remove all this... stuff. It would ease your mind. We could even help you with it." Chouji offered, to the quiet consternation of Shikamaru.

Smiling in happiness at the kind offer, Naruto declined. "Thanks, but no."

"Why not, Naruto?" Kiba asked, baffled at the thought of willingly letting such offending things stay up, outside one's home no less.

"Well, first off. The ones who put them there would just put it back up eventually, perhaps with even more... gusto next time. No doubt since they would see it as a small victory since it could be seen as me trying to remove offending stuff. Secondly, they serve a purpose now."

"A purpose? The graffiti?!" Sakura asked in astonishment.

"Yes. It now serves as a daily challenge that I see each morning. A challenge to not let the misguided hatred against me gain ground in my heart, and to fight back by slowly changing their views of me through my own actions."

That made all present, especially Hinata and Ino, admire Naruto even more. Facing that head-on and even using the methods of street-punks to his advantage. That took insight and guts that not many could claim to have at their age.

What impressed them less was the state of the inside of Naruto's apartment. It had junk littering all over the place, mostly consisting of empty instant-ramen cups and dirty clothes that really should have been in the laundry basket, if he had one. It was also dusty and dirty overall.

"Sorry about the mess. I'm a bit sloppy and lazy when it comes to chores."

"You're a guy after my own heart, Naruto." Shikamaru said with a lazy shoulder slap.

"That's not really a positive trait, Shikamaru." Ino admonished both of them at the same time.

"This would be partially why I am not too fond of the idea of inviting others over. While the outside isn't my fault, this is mostly my fault."

"Mostly?" Shino queried.

"Yeah, the water sometimes breaks down and I have to either fix it myself when I find the time or have someone else do it if the problem is too complicated for me. This causes me to not be able to wash my clothes and clean up. The trash is no excuse though."

"Is the water broken now?" Sasuke asked.

"Er... no. I just have been really, really, focused on the exam to bother with anything else, including chores." Naruto weakly tried to justify his laziness.

"Really?" Sakura questioned while slowly approaching Naruto with a sour face. "So you couldn't find time to do something that at most would take five to ten minutes to accomplish?"

"Um... sort of?" Naruto replied, backing away at the same pace Sakura approached.

"This wont do at all, Naruto." Ino said, approaching alongside Sakura, with a disapproving shake of her head.

"But I... I thought you guys said it wouldn't matter?" Naruto asked, starting to become a tad hurt.

"It doesn't matter in regards to you as a person, Naruto. But as a shinobi, you should have more discipline than this." Sakura said with Ino in full agreement.

Naruto had to agree with that, but the mind of Naruto Uzumaki would never admit complete defeat nor would it give in to any challenge.

"You're right, of course." He admitted with a look of honest, albeit mildly repentant face. He then turned jovial once again as he continued. "But I have the perfect solution to that problem right now!"

He then crossed both of his index and middle fingers in a + sign and called out, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

And with several poofs, the clones appeared and, already knowing their task, went ahead to clean the apartment up.

The girls weren't sure whether they should be impressed with the mildly ingenious solution or annoyed at the fact Naruto seemed to cheat his way out of doing chores everyone has to do.

Shikamaru was at first envious of Naruto's ability to multitask, or even go overkill on one task. But he concluded that even if he, himself, had the ability, his clones would be as against the idea of doing chores as himself so he mentally shrugged and scrapped that ultimately troublesome idea as he observed the clones at work making the place presentable.

'Maybe I can hire Naruto to help me out?' He then pondered. But his mother would put a stop to that and claim it is his responsibility to do it. That woman could be such a killjoy.

Hinata merely giggled quietly, wholly admiring Naruto's ability to solve his problem.

Kiba and Chouji laughed at Naruto avoiding the ire of the girls at the same time as he fixed his supposed no-time-for-chores issue. Only Naruto could hit two birds with one stone like that. Sasuke merely smirked and Shino observed, silently appreciating the solution to a problem.

Soon enough, the apartment was clean. Not perfect, but it was pleasant enough to be in as a guest.

"There, that should do the trick." Naruto said with a foxy grin.

"Naruto, there's something to be said about doing stuff yourself." Sakura said, groaning and palming her face.

"But I did, Sakura." Naruto defended

"Your clones did it all." Sakura pointed out.

"They're all me." He countered.

"No they're not, you didn't even experience the effort of doing it!" Sakura argued.

"Yes, I did. Anything the clones learn or experience is transferred back to the original, including fatigue as I just now noticed."

That was news to the budding kunoichi. "Really?"

"Yeah, the only thing I don't gain from clones is muscle build or physical endurance from their activities."

'If all that's true, then he still goes through the same experience while at the same time is able to shorten the time required exponentially.' Sakura thought, realizing also that she was out of arguments. Not that she needed to argue further as her cause for argument was satisfied at the same time.

"Wow, Naruto. This would mean you're able to train with clones in various ways." Ino chirped.

"Yeah, I guess so." Naruto grinned.

"Can you teach us the jutsu, Naruto. It would be sweet to know it." Kiba asked.

"Because you would be able to escape your chores?" Shino inquired.

"No. Well, yeah, that too. But I'd also like to be able to train like Naruto can. Besides, I wouldn't escape the experience, just the time it takes to do chores."

"Sorry, Kiba. But I wont." Naruto replied, shaking his head.

"What? Why not?" Kiba complained.

"How troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered. "Kiba, there are drawbacks to every jutsu in existence. That's one of the fundamental laws regarding jutsus. My guess is that Shadow Clone jutsu is very taxing on one's reserves, almost regardless of one's control. Am I right, Naruto?"

"Right on the money as always, Shika." Naruto nodded.

"Which means that even if you would be able to make one clone, you'd be almost depleted and near enough suffering from exhaustion just by creating the darn thing. Only Naruto's massive supply allows him to throw them around like the petals of a flower girl at a wedding." Sakura further explained.

"You had to use that particular image, didn't you Sakura?" Sasuke commented, knowing painfully well the reason she was of that mindset. Sakura blushed.

"Anyway, none of us would be able to come even close to the level of use Naruto can get out of this jutsu, which means we are pretty much better off not knowing the jutsu, at least for the time being." Shikamaru concluded.

Kiba groused but conceded, to the amusement of everyone else. But they couldn't help but share his disappointment to various degrees.

Hinata was fairly certain that her control and somewhat larger reserves due to her strict training regime at the Hyuuga household would give her a head start if she wanted to get to the point of learning the Shadow Clone jutsu. She had a few ideas where at least one could be of use to her.

Sakura, even with her near-enough phenomenal control for her age was sorely unable to consider the jutsu something she could learn soon, mostly due to her rather diminutive reserve at present. But with time she would be able to, of that she had no doubt.

Ino was playing around with the idea of seeing what would happen if she made a clone and tried to enter its mind and vice versa. While that idea was fruitless, she surmised, there was something else she thought of. She could, in theory, create a clone, have it enter someone else's mind, dispel the incapacitated clone and then await the return of the mind of the clone when it's completed its task. There was a chance that any injury sustained by the hijacked body would not affect her, as it normally would have.

'If what Naruto said about the clones not transferring muscle build, then the same about muscle damage should apply. It made sense since Naruto could use clones to fight and if a clone was killed it had no effect on the original, save perhaps the memory of the sensation.' She contemplated, frowning in focus. She would have to consult the clan scrolls, or, if that didn't do it, her father.

Kiba, instead, was now wondering if he could have Akamaru in his man-beast clone form do his chores for him occasionally. Akamaru, somehow sensing the thought pattern of his partner, quietly whimpered in dismay.

Shino was already knowledgeable in his insect clone technique, since his insects had no concept of laziness or the like, he had no doubt he could create a clone and do things the way Naruto did. But he would have to instruct his insects, which would require him being nearby for it. He supposed he could use the clone and do some chores himself simultaneously to shorten the time required for completion. All this was purely for the benefit of additional time for training and other important and productive things, of course.

For Chouji, it was of no use in direct relation to his clan's jutsu, other than another bodily-expansion capable combatant in a fight. Realistically, however, it was better to spend his chakra on his internal ability since, usually, a skilled Akimichi could be a force to be reckoned with on his/her own. That and their jutsus costs more energy than average, hence their girth to help out like a buffer.

He did consider having a clone to help him cook and do chores like everyone else. But no way was eating going to be done by a clone, that was totally and completely reserved for the original, thank you very much. Besides, it was the way Akimichi gain their strength and endurance. Something Naruto mentioned wasn't transferred. It would have been a waste of food and that is almost like a mortal sin for Akimichis.

Shikamaru was getting bored.

Sasuke only did the least amount of chores necessary for an acceptably presentable home, otherwise he was training or brooding. The only thing he found use of clones were to complete the chores marginally faster and training, using as a sparring partner. However, since they expire easily and he can't make more as readily as Naruto could, it would be a waste of chakra that he could've used for honing his other jutsus. Therefore the use came down to chores, of which Sasuke cared little for, as stated, wasting energy on.

Akamaru, like other ninja dogs of the Inuzuka clan, wasn't trained trained in the use of Shadow Clones and didn't have any real use for them since their partners, especially when the dogs were in man-beast clone form, were enough in a battle. Outside of that they had no use for it. Long ago it was proposed that ninken should be taught the technique at some point but it was rejected since it meant that they would have to have, for a dog, phenomenal reserves to be of use, which they didn't get until, maybe, late in their life. The only use, in theory, was if they were to have dogfights between them and their own clones so as to not harm one another.

The problem with that was that a part of a ninken's training was to get a good pain-tolerance. Both during the infliction of it upon them and then dealing with it afterward. So the idea of avoiding some of it due to fights between different dogs was not seen as constructive. Another was that it was believed that a clone of a dog wouldn't want to injure the original, since it was, in essence, itself. And a dog never injures itself willingly, unless under dire circumstances, not even then in some cases.

"Well," Naruto stated, bringing everyone out of their brief considerations. "now you've seen where and how I live. Anything else you guys would like to do today?"

"Yeah, we intended to have a little party to celebrate our graduation yesterday." Chouji said, his mouth drooling a bit at the thought of the food and drink entailed.

"Yeah, that's right! We should totally get back to setting that up as we originally wanted to." Kiba agreed.

"When and where?" Naruto asked.

"The Akimichi Barbeque Restaurant. We probably should make it at six o´ clock" Chouji answered proudly.

"Ooh nice, I can already taste the pork jowls." Ino said with glee, to the surprise of all, save Sakura.

Who taunted. "I've always said you are what you eat, you know. What does that make you, Ino-pig?"

"I eat a good mix of everything, Forehead. That would make me a well balanced woman. Pork jowls just happen to be one of my favorite dishes, taste wise. It also has a good amount of collagen."

"You're hardly that, Ino." Sakura said with a smirk.

"What, a woman or well balanced?" Ino asked with a daring glare.

"Take your pick." Sakura and Shikamaru both replied at the same time, though Shikamaru was smart enough to whisper so only those close to him, namely Naruto and Kiba, could hear. Naruto and Kiba had great trouble keeping their laughter in check.

Lightning flashed between the eyes of the two rivals. "I'm gonna make you pay for that, Forehead!"

"Bring it, pig!" Sakura responded with a raising of her fist. Ino responded in kind, both completely forgetting where they were.

Before they could clash, Shikamaru had them captured in his shadow possession jutsu.

"Will you troublesome girls quit your senseless bickering, we have a party to plan after all." He said with irritation.

After coming to their senses, the planning went underway. Soon enough they agreed on the time, which was what Chouji supplied. They all went about their business during the day and when evening came they had a very pleasant celebration of their graduation.

The next day, the group, individually, had their photos taken. Although there was a bit of a dilemma when it came to Naruto.

"Naruto, you can't have this as a picture." The Hokage declared.

"Why not, jiji?"

"Because it's a photo of a set of eyes, basically." He supplied with a patient face.

"So?"

"So? The photo has to be a photo which one can recognize the one displayed on it."

"Nu-uh. That's not what's required." Naruto protested.

"Oh, really?" Sarutobi asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, the purpose of the photo is to make certain that recognizable features are made known to identify the ninja the photo displays."

"Correct, which there are none besides your blue eyes, the rest of your head is covered by your ninja mask."

"Right, but tell me, jiji. How many ninjas are dressed like that nowadays?"

Hiruzen had to give that a moment of thought. "The closest I can give are three people, Kakashi Hatake from the leaf, Zabuza Momochi from the Hidden Mist and finally Han from the Hidden Stone. But they, while masked, still had recognizable features to them."

"So that means I would be the only one that would be dressed like this?"

"Yes, but..." Hiruzen paused, then laughed. "I see where you are headed with this, Naruto. Very well, you can hereby add that you've won an argument with the Hokage to your list of accomplishments."

Naruto grinned in response while giving a thumbs-up.

That's when the door suddenly swung open with a slam as a boy a couple of years younger than Naruto started to sprint towards the elderly man, brandishing a kunai.

"This time, old man, I will get you for sure and take your hat!" He shouted his challenge.

But he didn't have more time than to say that before a kunai collided with the kunai in the boy's hand, making the boy loose his grip, and consequently the weapon itself. Barely a second after a shuriken caught the very long scarf the boy was wearing around his neck, pinning it to the floor.

Since the boy hadn't had the opportunity to stop his dash, the resulting effect was a tightened scarf which effectively halted the boy who then fell backwards to the floor from the halting force.

After regaining his senses, which didn't take more than 3 seconds. The boy, to his credit, flipped himself up, removed the shuriken (though it took him a second to pull it loose) and finally using said shuriken to accusingly point at Naruto.

"You, you made me fall, didn't you?!" He shouted.

"Yeah, I did, kid. You were a threat to the Hokage, even though you are as dangerous as a sparrow is to an elephant against him."

"Do you know who I am?!"

"No, and I really don't care."

"Honorable grandson!" A shouting Jonin entered with haste, slightly out of breath. "There you are, you need to stop running away from me so..." The jonin then noticed Naruto and his eyes immediately changed from worried and mildly panicked into that of cold, distrusting and disgusted ones. Eyes that Naruto knew all to well.

"Hear that? I'm the Honorable Grandson!" The boy continued his argument with Naruto, with noticeable venom when he used the title he was apparently given.

"The Honorable Grandson, of the Hokage!" He then finished, fully expecting Naruto to get down on his knees and beg his forgiveness and treat him like everybody else does.

"I wouldn't care even if the Fire Daimyo was your dad, you're still a spoiled brat and an idiot." Naruto casually remarked as he retrieved his kunai and the shuriken from the boy with a swift grabbing motion.

"Idiot?! What do you mean, I'm an idiot?!" The boy shouted in shock and indignation.

Naruto then knocked the boy hard enough on the head to inflict minor pain several times with the ring-end of his kunai, all the while the boy trying and failing to avoid the offending item.

"Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Think, little chimp, think! Do you honest-to-kami believe that you had any snowball's chance in Suna to challenge and beat the HOKAGE of all people, while you're not even in you second year of the Academy?!" Naruto demanded while speaking in a sarcastic and condescending tone.

'This guy. He's different.' The boy thought in amazement. He was more shocked that he had the gall to talk like that to him, in front of the, surprisingly indifferent, Hokage nonetheless, rather than what he said, though that also irked him.

"I'm more powerful than you think, mister. And don't call me 'chimp'!" The grandson of the Hokage tried to claim, and then demand, but not with the same amount of passion as before. "Me defeating my grandpa and taking his hat will be the proof of my strength."

"The only thing you are proving is your own childishness." Naruto then glanced at the prejudiced Jonin. "Judging by the fact that you have a private tutor, you're already well on your way to become a Genin one day, whether you'll be a good one we can only hope." He commented. "But that also means that you need to stop deluding yourself, thinking you're already Jonin material, and start taking things seriously."

"The Honorable Grandson is taking things seriously. He has me as a tutor," The Jonin arrogantly indicated himself. "and through me, he has a shortcut to the seat of Hokage."

Naruto looked at the Jonin in disbelief. "I can understand the brat thinking that way, but a full-blown Jonin? Are you mad?"

"I beg your pardon?" The Jonin said indignantly. "I'm Ebisu, elite Jonin tutor. I demand you treat me with respect, as well as the Honorable Grandson, Konohamaru Sarutobi."

"Oh, so you're the guy with the hamster." Naruto remarked idly, taking the now identified Ebisu by surprise that he knew such a detail about him. "Anyway, respect is earned, Ebisu-san. True respect. Anything else is lip-service. I'm not a lip-service kind of guy, so don't expect it from me. The way you are now, Jonin, you are far from earning my respect, or anyone else's I'd suspect."

He then turned to the also identified Konohamaru. "And as for you, don't listen to that bullcrap about shortcuts to becoming Hokage. There are no such things in life, especially a shinobi's. You want shortcuts, try the lottery, or a barber shop. The way to becoming Hokage will mean you will have to bleed, sweat and cry large amounts of blood, sweat and tears for long, agonizing parts of it. The times you aren't are small pockets of reprieve before having to go at it again.

In other words, the way to becoming Hokage is hard as hell, but also the most honest one. Taking shortcuts is cutting yourself short, chimp. Remember that. Besides, the Hokage is supposed to be the strongest shinobi in the village. Do you want to be know as a weak Hokage that reached his position by basically cheating and when push came to shove wasn't strong enough to meet the enemies head-on?" Naruto lectured.

'Naruto-kun is on a roll it seems.' Hiruzen thought with a mental laugh. 'But little Konohamaru does indeed need to hear this. Especially from someone close to his age.'

"W-what would you know of stuff like that?" Konohamaru asked.

"Good question, chimp. I learned this from my sensei. He didn't sugar-coat anything and told me the cold, harsh truth. Which is; that a Hokage needs to not only be strongest, but also the wisest and the one that has what it takes to make the tough decisions, even when it hurts him and those around him. He has to be able to send his own son on dangerous missions, even suicide missions. A true Hokage does not shy away from the hardest of choices, even if it costs him or her their own life. To be even a candidate to become Hokage, you have to be prepared to do just what I've told you. Do you understand me?"

Konohamaru nodded. Ebisu, while scowling on the outside, was rather impressed with the lecture of the village pariah. But one impressive lecture was not enough to alter his opinion of the 'demon boy'. Which was why he then spoke the following.

"Well. If you're quite done, I, Ebisu, and the Honorable Grandson have to resume our training."

"No we aren't!" Konohamaru protested loudly.

"Honorable Grandson!" Ebisu chided with surprise. "You must, you are the Honorable Grandson of the Sandaime Hokage, you cannot settle for anything less than the top-notch instructions available."

"Which isn't you!" Konohamaru angrily stated.

"Konohamaru-kun. Why are you so adamant about this?" Hiruzen questioned his grandson. "Isn't Ebisu-san a good teacher?"

"No, he isn't." He replied.

"Honorable..."

"Be silent, Ebisu-san." The Third Hokage commanded without averting his eyes from his youngest relative. "Why is that?"

"He's doesn't respect me, he lies to me and doesn't train me right."

"What makes you say that?"

"He keeps calling me 'Honorable Grandson' and not my name. I am your grandson, but I am called Konohamaru and I wont be only known all my life as the grandson of the Third Hokage. I've asked him to please call me by my name but he wont. That's not respecting me while saying he's doing it at the same time. Then he lies to me about what it's like to be a ninja, a Hokage and a member of the Sarutobi clan."

Looking with visible yet restrained anger at Ebisu, the eldest Sarutobi asked of Konohamaru what he's said.

"He's said that a ninja is a powerful warrior that goes around doing glamorous missions, whatever that means, and rescues damsels in distress. A Hokage is the village leader who tells everyone what to do from the safety of his office and that as a member of the Sarutobi clan I would inherit your hat automatically."

His anger growing noticeably, the Hokage asked a question Konohamaru didn't expect.

"If you were to request a new tutor, do you have someone in mind?"

"Hai, ojiisan. I want Naruto-niichan!" He happily proclaimed, pointing at the Genin.

Ebisu and Naruto were both gaping like fish in surprise. "You can't be serious, chimp! I'm a newly graduated Genin, myself. Why do you want me as a teacher?"

"Because you respect me, you're honest and take being a ninja seriously. You're also obviously good."

'Respect him? I call him "chimp" for crying out loud!' Naruto thought with a sweat-drop before speaking. "How can I be good enough to teach you if I don't even know Chunin level techniques?"

"Naruto-kun. There is, believe it or not, merit to Konohamaru-kun's request. You may be a Genin, but you're still more advanced in skill and knowledge about the ninja profession than little 'chimp' here." The Third said with a hearty chuckle at the nickname for his youngest clan member.

"But that doesn't make me a good teacher."

"No, it doesn't. But you have already shown the qualities of being one, which is why I will make a rare exception in this case and allow for Konohamaru to learn from you."

"But, jiji..." Naruto began.

"Oi, why are you calling jiji 'jiji'?" Konohamaru demanded indignantly. "He's my jiji, not your jiji."

"He's my jiji because he's, obviously, like a jiji to me. Jiji's been there for me during hard parts of my life. Anyway, jiji, I'm going to be very busy doing not only regular Genin stuff, but 'other' things as well." Naruto pointed out to the aged leader with emphasis on 'other'.

Stroking his beard in contemplation, Hiruzen replied. "So you do, I nearly forgot about that."

"I'd say you completely forgot, jiji." Naruto said with a taunting smirk.

Snorting in a mix of amusement and displeasure at being called on his lapse of memory by a mere Genin, the eldest Sarutobi waved Ebisu forward.

"Ebisu-san, I hereby relieve you of your position as private tutor of my grandson." He stated firmly.

"Bu-but, Hokage-sama..." Ebisu started to protest.

"Enough. I've seen and heard enough from both you and Konohamaru to know you are ill suited to teach him. I'm frankly stumped how you got so far as to gain the 'elite tutor' title with such poor ideas and immature behavior. I will have to review your promotion and your work so far after that. Pending my decision, you are suspended from teaching anyone and reassigned to 'that' duty."

"No, please lord Hokage! Not 'that' duty!" Ebisu protested in a rather comical display of despair.

"Yes! That duty!" He replied, sporting a scary face and the sound of distant thunder was heard for additional dramatic effect. "I hope for your sake it will be a humbling and sobering experience for you, Ebisu-san." He then finished, in a very undramatic manner.

'"That" duty?' Was the thought of both young boys in the room.

"H-hai... Hokage-sama." Ebisu said as he bowed and left the room, heavily hunched over, arms dangling, in shame.

Sweat-dropping at the sight, Naruto and Konohamaru turned to face their leader once again.

"Uh... jiji? What's 'that' duty?" Naruto asked. Konohamaru was silently wondering himself.

"Oh just gate-guarding duty." He replied as if referring to a harmless task. "It's considered the most boring and uneventful job in existence. That duty, along with a certain mission I believe you will get familiar with soon enough Naruto-kun, are considered by just about any shinobi in the village to be the bane of their profession. I basically send naughty ninja to that duty to get them to come to their senses. If that fails, the mission I mentioned will be a good fall-back to get them to straighten them up, trust me." He said, finishing the statement with a sinister grin but with a grandfatherly tone of voice. Both boys shivered at the sight.

"You've rid the chimp here of his teacher, but haven't gotten him a new one. Am I missing something?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Oh don't you fret, Naruto-kun. I've got a couple of teachers in mind for Konohamaru-kun."

"That's good to hear, who are they?" Naruto said with careful optimism.

"Well, I can assign Asuma to be a part-time sensei for him and when he's not available, you will teach him."

"Huh? But I will be busy pretty much all the time."

"Not exactly. You may be part of the new project we've initiated, but you wont be as busy as you might think. Remember when I said you would be compensated for doing 'certain' stuff? Well, you wont be doing that all the time and will have some time when you have no training or missions. If Asuma is not available, you will teach my grandson what you can. Don't worry, it wont be much each time, only an hour or two, so you will not be losing much off time, nor will you be without pay."

"Okay, I can get that. But what if neither Asuma-san or myself are available?"

"Then Konohamaru will have that time off. He will still get enough training through the academy."

"Why not let the academy do it all?"

"Because little Konohamaru has shown to be overly... rambunctious and a bit of a troublemaker and this is a measure to remove that sort of behavior in a future shinobi. Also, I have little time for schooling him in the ways of the Sarutobi clan, being the Hokage and all that. Asuma is a busy man as well and there aren't many Sarutobi shinobi left to tutor young Konohamaru properly. Hence we came up with the plan that Konohamaru gets private tutoring in general shinobi skills that frees up our precious time to school him purely in Sarutobi ways." The Professor explained. Unknowingly proving certain people wrong, and others right, about his grandson's situation.

Konohamaru rubbed his neck in embarrassment at being put in such a light in front of his new idol and teacher. He was determined to prove that he would be worth the effort though.

"So because he's a loudmouth idiot, a prankster and you guys have basically no time for him he gets extra teachings? I guess being the grandson of the Hokage 'does' have its perks." Naruto said with a pointed glance at said grandson and then a knowing look at his leader.

"I'm not showing favoritism, Naruto-kun. It's common sense." He said, unknowingly repeating another's words.

"Sure you aren't, jiji." He responded, heavy on the sarcasm.

"Naruto-kun, you're sometimes a pain yourself." He said with a small, playful scowl.

Grinning quite proudly, Naruto chuckled and replied jokingly to the comment "I wouldn't be me if I wasn't at least a bit of a pain in the ass."

Konohamaru was happily surprised that his idol wasn't afraid to have some fun along the way. As he would learn later on, having fun when possible would be a saving grace for many shinobi and their mental health. But it was, sadly, not something everyone took to heart.

"So, what now boss?"

"'Boss'?"

"Yeah, since you're one of my new teachers, and also my idol, you're from now on my boss." Konohamaru said with a happy grin and fire in his eyes. (No, not like Gai and Lee)

"What about Asuma-san?"

"He's my uncle, so I'll call him uncle." He answered matter-of-factly.

"Right." Naruto said. He was honestly rather flattered that the younger boy held him in that regard. But he also was a bit worried that he wasn't up to the task. Being drilled in responsibility and such, Naruto wasn't too keen of the idea of already landing a teacher role for those younger than him. Heck, he was certain he had his hands full as it was, helping to teach his fellow classmates who had taken to being students under Yokai and himself in their arts, even if only one of them were full-time.

"Well, then. If that is all, you are dismissed, boys." The Sandaime said with a gesture towards the door.

Naruto bowed lightly. Seeing Konohamaru not doing the same, merely waving childishly, Naruto yanked at his scarf and almost face-planted him onto the floor. Getting the hint, Konohamaru made a quick bowing gesture before following Naruto out the door.

Once outside, Konohamaru started pestering Naruto about what they would do first.

"Alright already. First off, how far had you and your old teacher come today?"

"We were working on concealment and evasion." Konohamaru replied.

"Alright then, I suppose you got that down rather good if you managed to get away from him to launch that 'attack' of yours before. Show me your abilities in it so far." Naruto commanded.

What the little chimp displayed was absolutely not what Naruto expected. His first item of concealment was a square box painted to look like a rock, with eye-holes on its side. As if that would work anywhere. Next Konohamaru showed his camouflage cloths. There are various areas of the village where one can hide using such simple tools. But the way he did it was simply atrocious, the cloth wasn't completely covering the boy, nor, in certain cases, angled to fit in the background perfectly. One such example was the lines of the cloth that were supposed to go parallel with the lines of a certain wall behind it. Instead they formed a visible 'patch' of contrasting lines. When he tried to conceal himself using already existing objects where one can hide in, he always left a good part of his absurdly long scarf visible and didn't do anything to drag it in, except for one time he noticed it himself.

Once the boy was finished going through his repertoire of hiding skills, Naruto was groaning in dismay at the pathetic display. The shinobi in him was crying in agony at the horrible skills the boy, oh so proudly, showed.

"I can't believe I saw all that'tebayo." He said once he regained his composure.

"I know, I'm awesome, right?" Konohamaru asked proudly, obviously not noticing that Naruto was not pleased.

"I've got two things to say. Either your former sensei was a talentless brown-nose who got his position through ass-kissing alone, or he deliberately avoided calling you out once he found you, because there is no one who wouldn't notice you, save a blind person. No doubt he did that to make you feel as if your skills were good. I think I'm going for a mix of both."

The proud expression transformed into a look of sadness upon hearing it. Konohamaru had no doubt that his new teacher was right. It all felt too easy when with that Ebisu guy. But he quickly went from sad to determination and said,

"I will work hard to perfect my hiding skills then. What should I work at the most?"

"What shouldn't you?" Naruto asked rhetorically. But he realized that came out as unnecessarily harsh and corrected himself. "Sorry, I'm just upset with your old teacher, not you. I, as well as your uncle no doubt, will help you correct what Ebisu messed up with you. First things first! Always check that 'all of you' is concealed, whether in a bush, haystack or behind one of your cloths. Don't let a hair of you show, nor any part of your scarf, or you might as well not conceal yourself at all, got that? What's with the scarf anyway, chimp?

Konohamaru nodded his understanding before replying, "I like it, it's warm and I can use it for a couple of things."

"Like what?"

"Like tripping people or choking enemies, it's just an idea though. Haven't gotten to the part where we started training with dummies yet. I can also use it to swing from place to place by whipping it around anchor points."

"You've been swinging around tall buildings?!" Naruto asked in shock.

"No, just shorter trees for now. Ebisu wouldn't let me try anything that's taller, he did say he thought it could be useful at some point."

"At least one thing he was right about." Naruto admitted with a nod. "Secondly, chimp. Check that the cloth your using fits with the background perfectly."

"I thought I did?"

"You chose the right pattern every time, that much you did right. But you didn't check if it that pattern fit with the background properly. Take that large wooden wall you hid behind for example, it had lines going from the ground to the top. But your cloth was angled so they went horizontally instead. Always make sure to get that right the first time, you'd rarely get another chance to correct it before the enemy appeared, believe it."

Konohamaru couldn't help but face-palm himself at his own stupidity. Sadly, there was more to come.

"Last, but absolutely not least, what on earth possessed you to use a box painted as a rock, with eye-holes, to hide in? And why move it at all!? A rock is never, I repeat, never perfectly square unless chiseled by stonemasons. And those blocks of rock are never found in the open or in nature. So, you can forget that thing altogether."

"But what if you have a mission to sneak in a stone mine?"

"If that ever happens, chimp, the rocks aren't worked on until they reach the workshop where the masons do their thing. Even when the rocks are finished processing, they are never placed in such a way that they are singled out, they are always put in groups for later loading and transporting. If you were to move about in the area, appearing like a chiseled rock, you'd be discovered very soon because no one would put one on its own."

"How do you know this stuff?" Konohamaru asked in admiration.

"In my travels with my own sensei, a stonemason's workshop happened to be one place we passed by. Sensei told me what he knew of the art when I got curious, and what he didn't know, we asked the persons at the shop."

"Wow, he let you learn about stuff like that?"

"Yeah, it always pays as a shinobi to learn what you can about just about anything. Didn't Ebisu... never mind, he didn't obviously." Naruto sighed.

"Geez, I didn't know I was so..." Konohamaru struggled with expressing what he meant.

"Sheltered would be a word, but at this point it's more like sabotaged if you ask me." Naruto said with a angry frown. "But enough of that. I've told you what you need to focus on for now. I'd say go play hide-and-seek, shinobi style, with your friends."

"Why them boss?"

"Because at this point even early academy students, scratch that, even regular civilian kids could spot you. When you can hide from your friends without being found, come to either me or Asuma-san again and we'll work from there."

"Gotcha, boss. See ya later!" Konohamaru called out his goodbye as he ran to wherever he goes when not training.

Naruto had to admit that teaching could turn out to be fun, but he was under no illusion it would be a cakewalk.


	39. Reservations

Happy New Year 2014 to all of you fans of Naruto and my story! Hope this year will bring many opportunities and lots of progress for you guys. :D

Chapter 38: Reservations

In the office of the village leader, a gathering of nearly a dozen Jonin was taking place. The successor of the Nidaime, and ironically of the Yondaime as well, smiled at the group as he commenced the meeting.

"I am pleased to see you all here." He said. "On time." He then added as he glanced at a masked man with a silvery hairdo, which was shaped in a way you would associate with a scarecrow. This man was Kakashi Hatake, one of the survivors of the last ninja war and the only surviving member of team Minato.

"There weren't any black cats crossing my path, nor any elderly ladies requiring help." Kakashi replied lazily with a shrug.

"So you managed to navigate the road of life today, eh Kakashi?" Asuma, who was one of the Jonin assembled, remarked with a humorous chuckle. The man answered with an 'eye-smile'. It was one of his trademark ways of showing facial reactions, what little there was to show since he only had his right eye visible. The rest of his face was masked and his other eye was covered by his headband.

"What are you talking about, Asuma?" Kurenai inquired in a whisper as the Hokage stated the reason they were here, which was the Genin assignment to the Jonin team leaders. "You guys make it sound as if Kakashi is a tardy slacker."

"If we made it sound like that, then it's because it is like that." Asuma responded with a knowing smirk. "Kakashi is notorious for being late to just about anything. A common joke about him is that he will be late to his own funeral."

Frowning in disapproval at the explanation, Kurenai commented. "That's not behavior befitting a Jonin."

"Maybe, but Kakashi is regarded as one of the best Konoha has to offer, and has never been late when it is truly important." Asuma spoke in a serious manner. "Which is why he is still a Jonin, I think. Dad is rather lenient with him for some reason. I know you're new to the Jonin ranks, Kurenai, so let me tell you right now so you don't have any misconceptions. Just about all of us have acquired some sort of quirk, or two, to deal with the life of a shinobi. The prime example of this is, fortunately, not here." Asuma said, referring to Maito Gai. There was no one in Konoha who wasn't familiar with that man's insane workout regime and nonsense about youth.

Everyone liked him when he was in a mellow mood, which sadly wasn't often. When he was in his exuberant mood, which was most of the time, just about everyone made every effort to steer clear, or else they risk getting dragged into his challenges or invited (with little room for decline) to his workouts or spars so their "Flames of Youth" were stroked properly. His hits hurt. A lot. And he gets in hits frequently. He wasn't the primary Taijutsu specialist in the village for nothing.

One person who has been the target of Gai's challenges without mercy, through no initiation of his own, was Kakashi, who took them in stride, most of the time, and has managed to keep the score even. Gai had long ago, for some reason, decided, and declared as much, loudly, that the Hatake was his eternal rival. Therefore he has singled him out countless times to compete with in anything, anywhere and at anytime (when appropriate).

All that said, there was not anyone who did not respect him. For he was fiercely loyal, monstrously strong and a highly skilled Jonin. He was one of those ninja who you could count on in a pinch. His perpetually friendly nature was also hard to not appreciate.

Kurenai sighed softly and dropped the subject as they both focused on the meeting. Hiruzen had just reached the point where he addressed which Jonin got which Genin.

"Alright, I am aware that you all expect to be the leaders and teachers of groups of three Genin, as has been customary since founding of the Elemental Nations. However, this year, we shall proceed with an experimental method."

Surprised looks and glances towards one another was abundant in that room when that statement was made.

"Experimental method?" Kurenai spoke up, feeling rather intimidated because, as a new and relatively inexperienced Jonin, she would now be part of a new way of doing things. This would mean that she wouldn't really have anyone to ask for advice since they all would be new to this.

"That's right, Kurenai-chan." Hiruzen answered in that calming, grandfatherly tone. "This year, we will make a completely new setup in regards to the Genin teams. Along with that, we will make a new setup in regards to the Jonin teachers attached to the Genin."

"Pardon me, Hokage-sama." Kakashi spoke, looking either anxious or interested, no one could really tell. His voice gave nothing away. But what he said next made things clearer. "Will this conflict with the requests for certain graduates that I've put in, or anyone else's requests for that matter?"

"I'm afraid so Kakashi. However, it will only partially do so."

"Partially?"

"Yes, for a few of the graduates have volunteered themselves to a new branch of the shinobi profession that I and another have founded. One of them, Aburame Shino, has done so full-time, while the rest, Uchiha Sasuke and Inuzuka Kiba have joined in as part-time members. Uzumaki Naruto is also in the program as both a trainee and a trainer."

"Naruto?" Kakashi asked out loud in disbelief. "I know he is trained in foreign techniques which puts him in a higher position where those are concerned. But to be put into a teaching position at that age, regardless of his abilities, is highly questionable."

"Kakashi, I recall someone only slightly younger who graduated the academy and then became a Chunin and not long after an ANBU at the age of fifteen." The eldest Sarutobi pointed out.

A small sigh escaped Kakashi's lips as he responded. "I know, Hokage-sama. But far from everyone can manage such things, and the prerequisites for most of that is not something I wish upon anyone."

Remembering the events and turmoil that Kakashi had to go through in order to become mature enough for the positions he climbed through during the latest war and afterward, the Hokage nodded in sympathetic understanding.

"I know where you come from with your concerns, Kakashi. But there is no need to fear for Naruto or his ability to do what is asked of him. His role is only secondary teacher, an assistant if you will, so his instructions wont be complicated at all. In fact I suspect he will only go through the basics and then let the main teacher, Yokai-san, do the advanced stuff. After all, he needs instruction himself." Hiruzen explained. He then continued. "Naruto himself will only be part time in this new project. He will also need training in the regular ways, so you will not miss out on your requested students, Kakashi."

"So this part time thing is what you meant with partially interfering with our requests?" Asuma spoke up, having made a request himself. Kurenai had as well with Hinata, whom she has taken notice of and wished to train, so she was listening with rapt attention to this new development.

"Indeed, son. You will get your students, but you will also get others."

"Others?" Kurenai asked, a bit worried about taking on more than she can chew.

"Yes, since we had initially made team seven through ten consist of the heirs of the greater clans, it was my intention to have Kakashi, Asuma and yourself Kurenai, take care of them, seeing as you're the more outstanding of our Jonin, despite your newly acquired promotion." Hiruzen said and at the same time complimented Kurenai's skills, to her surprise and joy at being so highly thought of. Her leader then resumed his explanation.

"But as I mentioned, several of them are now partially unavailable and that leaves us with incomplete teams, save for team 10. The plan is now to have them all, including team 10 since their members are close friends with the rest involved, come together as one big group under you all."

"What?!" Came the unanimous exclaim.

"You heard me." The Hokage said with a small smirk. "You will teach them to work in a group of at least three but they can and will also sometimes work in groups of more. And the plan is to make them able to work with one another effectively in any combination during missions an under the command of any of you."

"So you're saying that even the missions are going to be done differently?" Asuma noted.

"That's right. Depending on the circumstances, we will either go with the basic group of three, but with any of the Genin we choose to include in the mission. Or we will go with four or more if the mission is expected to be more difficult than anticipated. As far as you are concerned, one of you will be selected to lead them in the mission depending on any needed expertise."

"This is highly irregular, Hokage-sama." One of the other Jonin spoke up for the first time. "We are breaking away heavily from our shinobi tradition with this move."

"Tradition, you say? What good is a tradition if it causes us to become too rigid in our ways? Two of a shinobi's primary abilities is being flexible and adaptable to any development. Those are part of what allows him or her to survive. The only ones that have to adhere to their ways are the samurai. Are we samurai? No, we are shinobi. We endure. We fight dirty. We adapt and we have always been the pioneers of the new, whether that be in warfare or in technology, as long as jutsus have been in existence." The Hokage lectured.

The assembled Jonin nodded in agreement, some with reluctance. Tradition is hard to break, even for those who claim to adhere to flexibility. Despite their reservations, however, none present would oppose their leader, they trusted his judgement.

"What about the Genin tests Jonin have given them upon their graduation?" Kakashi queried.

"Scrapped. We instead will allow the new system to introduce and cement the concept of teamwork and camaraderie." Hiruzen answered.

"But Hokage-sama..."

"I know what you're going to say, Kakashi." He interrupted with a raised hand. "I myself, have used the very same bell-test on our very own sannin when they were ripe Genin themselves. But I must say that the same test, while intended to weed out undesirables and let through those with clear signs of teamwork, has also been a cause for needless and preventable friction and strife. Those that pass are worthy, granted. But those that don't, they more often than not face ridicule and scorn from their peers, not to mention humiliation in the process of the test.

I was blind to this in my youth, but I've observed more than enough to form a clearer picture of the results of the test. Kakashi, did you know that Jiraiya was very close to abandoning the village?"

Kakashi and everyone else were absolutely shocked to hear that piece of information.

"Abandon... the village?"

"Correct. He was a hard worker, despite his... disposition regarding unrelated things." Hiruzen commented, garnering snickers from the males in the room and a frown of disapproval from Kurenai and another kunoichi in the room.

"And yet," he continued. "He had, to begin with, a harder time to get things right and failed almost as often as he succeeded, not to mention he was brash and cocky. He was consequently bound to the post in a humiliating fashion while Tsunade and Orochimaru, surprisingly to a lesser extent, mocked him. I foolishly did nothing about that. He was so upset that he felt like leaving and seeking his own path, a path that had no ridicule in store for him. Humiliation does nothing positive for one's character, people."

"What kept him with us, Hokage-sama?" Kurenai asked, feeling some sympathy for the sannin, regardless of his perversion.

"I am not at liberty to divulge that, Kurenai-san. Suffice to say he found a reason to stay, or had already. He only confided in me much later of his feelings on the whole matter." He spoke with a slightly lowered head. He then looked at the assembly, shaking his head. "We cannot go on with humiliating methods of testing Genin's teamwork. It goes against the purpose itself as well as our own Will of Fire. We most certainly can instill teamwork and camaraderie in a more amicable way. A way that will make our own candidates want to remain loyal and fiercely fighting for us and their loved ones."

Kakashi briefly recalled all the times he tested the previous groups of Genin assigned to him. He never once considered it to such an extent. Perhaps he was too harsh in his testing, as well as too indifferent to the emotions of those who would serve the village.

"Enough about that. As I have said, this new system will allow our Genin to enter the world of the ninja in a way that helps them better than the previous method. It will be up to all of you to guide them properly into their future. One last thing, aside from the new Genin team method, you are not to discuss, except with me present, of the new branch that is formed. Failure to comply will result in anything between some quality time with Ibiki and Anko to execution." The Hokage stated with authority, marking the end of the meeting.

A chorus of "Hai!" resounded in the room before the leader of the Leaf dismissed them.

Not much later, a knock on the Sandaime's door was heard. Bidding the guest to enter, Sarutobi beheld said guest to be none other than Shimura Danzo with his 'friends', Homura and Koharu.

"Sarutobi!" Danzo all but shouted.

"Watch your tone, Danzo. Do you forget to whom you are addressing?" The Third cooly pointed out, complete with a hard stare.

While he loathed being talked down to like that, Danzo nevertheless did correct himself. "My apologies, Hokage-sama. But it has come to our attention that you intend to deviate from tradition and change what has worked for us since the foundation of this village?"

"I assume you're referring to the new system of dividing up the Genin teams?" Hiruzen confirmed without taking his eyes off his paperwork, which was not much remaining of for the day.

"That is correct, Hokage-sama." Koharu spoke up. "We are concerned about this course of action."

"What about it is cause for concern?" Sandaime said unperturbed, once again without taking his eyes from his work.

"By doing this," Homura, the third of the trio, began. "You are spitting on the values and memory of the previous Hokage, most of all the Shodaime who founded this great village."

This time, the Hokage did look upon his old comrades in arms. And he was none too pleased with what was said.

"That is a very serious accusation for something so simple as trying a different and possibly improving method." He began and stood to his feet, glaring heatedly at the three elders. "You are treading upon thin ice and about to break through it. I advice you to choose your next words carefully." He spoke through clenched teeth.

Danzo, undeterred by the words and the glare, spoke with his infuriating calm that left you feeling as if you were condescended.

"Sarutobi-dono, not observing the fine tradition we have in regards of our Genin team formations is a serious step in the wrong direction. We question this decision with the utmost sincerity."

"A step in the wrong direction according to whom?"

"According to tradition and statistics." Danzo immediately answered.

"You keep mentioning tradition, but like I said to the Jonin that were here not even half an hour ago, we are shinobi, and as shinobi it is in our nature to adapt, change and evolve. And we are always at the forefront as well with whatever development there is."

Danzo had little to respond to that but was silently fuming at this. Despite being a shinobi, a proud one at that, Danzo was something of a traditionalist in his views, and as with all die-hard traditionalists, they don't respond well to change.

"The statistics of our method point that we have done alright, why should we alter what has done well for us in the past?" He said after a moment of pondering.

"I'm surprised at you, Danzo. I would have thought you of all people would appreciate what I'm trying to do."

"What do you mean?" Danzo narrowed his visible eye, if that was even possible since he seems to be perpetually squinting.

"I know you, Danzo. You are one for efficiency, if not perfection. Doing 'alright', is entirely different from doing splendindly. Other villages may have similar methods as we have had, but we have had results that I find to be, frankly, just on par with the goals originaly set by our predecessors. I, for one, am not satisfied with those results. I intend to find ways to improve our Genin, for the Genin of today are the foundations of tomorrow, the beginnings of Chunin and Jonin of the next generation. If we improve them now, we will become even stronger and more respected in this world of Shinobi. And we all know that strength and respect are two of the cornerstones for peace and prosperity."

"But how can you be certain of the improvements you seek by doing this?" Koharu questioned.

"In all honesty, I am not certain it will go as I planned. Then again, nothing has ever been certain when something new has been tried. If only to reassure you, I will only try this with half the Genin of the current batch leaving the Academy. Namely the heirs and a couple of others. I know for a fact that this group is closely knit together in friendship and stands a much greater chance of proving this method worthwhile."

"Why, and how, did you even concieve this notion, Hokage-sama." Homura asked after a few moments of considering the information given.

"Ah, well, you three are familiar with Yokai-san, are you not?"

The three nodded, Danzo with a disapproving look at where this was headed.

"He and I were talking sometime back and he spoke of his village's way of thinking and methods, both old and current. While some of them are not exactly applicable for us, it did provide me with inspiration about what to do to improve."

"You allow a foreign ninja to influence your mind?!" Danzo indignantly exlaimed.

"He has done no such thing! Do you seriously think so little of me that you suspect I am of feeble mind?! Do not try my patience, Danzo, or you will face punishment for your insolence." Hiruzen threatened sharply. "My idea is all my own, however he has agreed to assist me in this project."

Koharu and Homura's worries were assuaged but still had some silent reservations against this. But they would observe and see what will come of it. Danzo was of a different mind but would do nothing for the time being.

"Very well, Hokage-sama. If you are perfectly certain of this course of action, then we shall stand behind you." Homura spoke as he and Koharu bowed in submission to Hiruzen's will. Danzo gave a curt nod but walked out with a, to the Hokage, detectable irritaion in his steps. The tapping of his cane gave away a bit of his agitation as well.

Perfectly aware of Danzo's postion in the matter, the elderly leader decided he would keep an increasing vigil against anything Danzo might try.


	40. Rookies Assemble!

Chapter 39: Rookies Assemble!

It has now been a week since the night of Naruto's graduation to the rank of Genin. All of the graduates were assembled at their classroom for the last time to get their assigned teams and sensei. Excitement and nervousness was the prevailing atmosphere found in the room, as Iruka himself couldn't help but discover when he entered. Not that he wasn't expecting it, he very much was.

"Good morning, graduates." He greeted them cheerfully.

"Good morning, sensei!" Was the unanimous response.

"Last time we were in this classroom, you were shinobi hopefuls. From this point, there's no need for that hope, because all present have shown their stuff and have been deemed worthy of the rank of Genin." He said with no small amount of pride in his voice and face. His statement garnered cheers from the Genin.

Once the cheers died down, he resumed his speech. "Now you are ready to enter into the ninja trade, the trade of performing missions for you village and defending it from our enemies. It will be dangerous and even more than somewhat unpleasant at times, but I have no doubt that if you work hard and stand by your friends and fellow comrades in arms that you will not only survive, but flourish and become great warriors. Let me remind you of "The Great Three", the Sannin, whom have gotten to their level from humble beginnings, just like your own, to what they are today through what I just told you."

Yes, it was lectured that Orochimaru was a traitor. But the fact that he became a Sannin before that point and how strong he was, and most likely still is at the very least, was something they still used to inspire, along with the fact that strength and skill is always to be respected, but not always what one does with it. After all, downplaying an enemy's skills just because he's your hated enemy is folly.

"Before we get to the team placements, you need to be sworn in to our forces. Always bear it with you in your hearts that this oath is your bond to our village, just as valid as any contract out there, and even more important.

Now, you will all repeat after me!" He commanded as he put his right fist on his chest. The class did the same. They then repeated as he went.

"On my honor as a member of the Leaf village and as part of her forces I do swear that I always will be loyal to the Hokage, the village and her people. That I will do all in my power to ensure our people's safety. That I will strive to complete my missions. That I will grow as a shinobi/kunoichi so I can serve in all respects in a greater capacity. That I will stand with my comrades and protect them from harm to the best of my ability. That I will not allow our enemies to discover our secrets. That I will hold my tongue and not speak of what I am not allowed to or should not."

"And last but not least, to make your academy teacher proud of you." Iruka said the last part with a wink. The class laughed but unanimously repeated it nonetheless.

"Very good, one and all. On to the selections then." Iruka said and proceeded to tell the team numbers and their assigned Genin members as well as the sensei they would get.

Everyone present were tense as they couldn't contain their curiosity and their excitement. Some were of course hoping for certain members to be part of their own team. Those were mostly fan-girls wishing for either Sasuke or Naruto, or both to be the guy/-s they get teamed up with.

Naruto for his part knew already that he was going to spend time with everyone of his closest friends so he was only eager to get this part over with to get to the really good part.

"That's it for team 6. The remainder of the teams have something special planned for them. Teams seven through ten, with the exception of team nine because it is still active, are to meet their senseis at training ground seven in one hour. That's it. I wish you all the best, my former students." Iruka said as he rose and gathered his papers. He looked upon the graduates one final time with a fond smile before exiting the room to the goodbyes of the Genin.

Leaving the other Genin to wait for their senseis, Naruto and company went as instructed to the training ground once the hour was nearly up. Upon arriving, they found three Jonin awaiting them.

"Welcome, Genin. We are your assigned senseis. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. The man with the mask is Hatake Kakashi and the lovely lady is Yuhi Kurenai, the Leaf's resident Genjutsu Mistress." Asuma introduced themselves, with Kurenai blushing slightly at her flattering introduction by Asuma. The girls of the group immediately caught on and silently agreed to gossip about it afterward.

"Asuma! You're embarrassing me." Kurenai admonished halfheartedly in a whisper.

Chuckling softly, he merely responded, "What's embarrassing about it? They all can see you're beautiful anyway, Kurenai. And I just wanted to give the fact you are the best at Genjutsu we have the acknowledgment it deserves." Kurenai's blush intensified a bit but didn't say anything further.

'Smooth talker.' Kakashi thought in amusement while keeping a disinterested front. He glanced in Asuma's direction and asked with an eye-smile, "What about me, Asuma? Don't I get a special introduction?"

Glancing in the pseudo-cyclops direction, Asuma replied with an uncaring tone. "Alright, Kakashi Hatake is the Honorary-Nara Jonin in the Leaf, but not as much for his smarts as the other infamous Nara trait he has." Causing the group to laugh, and Shikamaru to smirk while muttering "kindred spirits", Kurenai to giggle and Kakashi to shrug indifferently. Kakashi thought, 'See if I buy you a drink in the foreseeable future, smokestack.'

"What about yourself, Asuma-sensei?" Kiba asked.

Instead of Asuma answering, Kakashi capitalized on the golden opportunity for payback. He answered immediately with an uncaring tone, "The Leaf's resident bipedal chimney." And since Asuma was at that time smoking a cigarette it was an obvious reference to his habit.

Asuma unwittingly underlined the insult by making a light puff in mild irritation and blowing out a little extra smoke in doing so, causing more laughter from the group.

"Boys, we are supposed to set an example for the Genin." Kurenai chided, but couldn't hide her amusement.

"Right, right." Kakashi said with a dismissal wave of his hand. Asuma merely lightly cleared his throat as he went on with the show.

"Now, we have introduced ourselves to you kids." Asuma began, with some present frowning in displeasure for not being seen as adults, as their headbands are supposed to indicate. "But what are proper introductions without all parties having had their say? Time to let us know just who you are."

Shino rose his hand. "May I ask a question?"

"You just did." Kakashi commented with that smile of his.

"Ask and we will answer as best we can. And no need to raise hands, you're not in the academy anymore. Speak up if you want to say something, just be mindful to make it worth everyone's time." Kurenai replied.

"Very well." Shino acknowledged the permission. "Do you have certain criteria for us to meet in regards to our introductions?"

"Huh?" Kiba grunted his confusion.

Sighing, Shikamaru clarified. "He's basically asking what are we supposed to tell about ourselves."

"Oh, I thought that was what he meant." Kiba nodded.

"No doubt about that." Sasuke sarcastically muttered.

Kakashi answered this time. "You could say that. We want you to tell everyone here what your names are as well as your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams or plans for the future."

"Nothing about our skills?" Naruto asked.

"We already got a summary of your skills before this meeting. It didn't include your personality outside of brief, superficial observations." Kurenai replied. "So to rectify that, we only ask about you as a person."

Asuma indicated the Genin at the far left from where the Jonin where standing, which so happened to be Hinata. "You go first, lady Hyuuga." He instructed politely.

Hinata fidgeted, with her index fingers pressing and rubbing against each other, as she listed her likes and so forth. "Um... M-my name is H-Hinata Hyuuga. I-I'm a member of the Hyuuga c-clan. M-m-my likes are warmth, cinnamon rolls, zenzai (red bean soup), flowers a-a-and um..."

She glanced at Naruto, but since she was at one end of the lineup it appeared as if she drew strength from her friends encouraging looks. "I-I-I like my family and m-my friends. I d-dislike mean people, s-sea-food like c-crabs and s-shrimps (shudder), c-cold weather and to f-f-fail."

Speaking at such length and with an audience was mentally taxing for the shy and timid girl, and she had to take a brief moment to regain her focus. Naruto, having known her the longest out of the group, was proud of her for enduring something she would not have only a year ago. It was a point of shame for her to not be able to speak like most other people, or have the confidence of just about anyone else. But Naruto knew their time together has paid off. Their efforts on improving her confidence in just about anything is now showing results.

If only he knew the true source of her improvement, and her strength. It wasn't so much his effort in helping her, as it was simply him being him.

"M-My hobbies are t-to press f-flowers, l-learn m-medicine and c-cooking." She continued. 'Especially cooking for Naruto-kun.' She added in her mind.

"My d-dreams..." She paused and glanced again at Naruto, which once again went unnoticed by everyone just who she was looking at, except Naruto. But he assumed it to be merely seeking support. So he grinned in response.

Returning her gaze at their senseis, she resumed. "M-my dreams are t-to unify my clan i-into one w-without b-branch families. M-my plans for the f-future are to g-grow stronger and to um... become a medic-nin." Hinata finished with a shy smile.

"Very good, Hinata." Kurenai complimented happily. "Next up, Shino."

"I am Shino Aburame, son of Shibi Aburame; clan head of our clan. My likes are insects in general, people who respect insects, efficiency, fruits and vegetables, mild climates and Kikaichu beetles. I dislike anything that consumes insects, save other insects, anyone that harms insects for no reason, glaring sunlight and climates that are inhospitable for insects.

My hobbies include as follows: Entomology, researching new ways of applying insects in my profession as a ninja, finding new insects to cultivate in my clan's compound for possible integration into my hive. My dream for the future is to become the world's leading expert in all things related to insects. My plans are in direct relation to my dream, I will accomplish my dream by growing stronger and more adept where I can as well as continuous study and application of insects."

Nodding, Asuma indicated the next Genin, Kiba.

"Alright, I'm Kiba Inuzuka, the wild child of Tsume Inuzuka, my clan's head. My likes are dogs, wolves, cats..." The strange looks given by most present irritated him, so he defended by saying. "Oi, just because we Inuzuka specialize in dogs doesn't make me anti-cat by default. My big-sis, Hana, is the Leaf's chief veterinarian for dog's sake, and she treats any animal that come into her clinic. Even Akamaru here doesn't hate cats, right boy?"

"Bark!" The puppy responded in an affirmative tone.

"There ya go. Anyway, I also like meat and chewy food, any climate cooler than tropical and my friends, who I consider part of the pack. I dislike hot weather, any food that doesn't have any mastication, people who abuse or mistreats animals and hunting for sport alone, killed animals should serve a purpose besides entertainment, like food and clothing."

"Isn't it against nature to enjoy hunting?" Ino asked.

"Not really. Animals that hunt can enjoy it, but they don't hunt needlessly."

"Getting off topic, kids." Kakashi admonished nonchalantly.

"Right, my hobbies include taking Akamaru for walks, tracking and hunting, improving mine and Akamaru's collaboration techniques and sparring. My dream is to become a world renowned tracker and warrior of the wild.

"Warrior of the wild?" Chouji inquired between mouthfuls.

"Yeah, our clan is known for their savage fighting style in tandem with our ninken, I want to be hailed as the strongest of them all and feared by my enemies. My plans for the future are to become more wild and fierce but also skilled and strong so I can become what I dream to be."

"A werewolf?" Naruto asked in mock curiosity.

"Ye... No!" Kiba shouted his indignation over the laughter of the graduates.

"Thank you, Kiba. Next." Kakashi cut in to prevent a scene.

Shikamaru was next, therefore he drawled. "My name is Shikamaru Nara, son of Shikaku, clan head of the Nara clan. I like non-troublesome stuff and I dislike troublesome stuff. My hobbies are cloud watching, playing strategy games, mainly Shogi, against smart opponents and naps. My dreams are to become an average Chunin and marry an average wife and have one boy and girl, retire when said kids get promoted to Jonin and die of old age before my wife.

My plans for the future is to stay out of as many troublesome situations as possible and avoid anything that can be even remotely considered a drag whenever I can. The only exceptions are if my friends and village depend on me."

Many sweat-dropped at the incredibly lazy boy. "Um... Ok, let's move on." Kurenai spoke.

"My name is Chouji Akimichi." Chouji started friendlily. "I'm the son of Choza, clan head of the Akimichi. I like food, drinks, snacks, candy, sweets..." Before he had the chance to continue his rant about food, Ino elbowed him in the ribs. Taking the hint, he resumed. "I also like cooks, people who are kind and don't judge someone based on appearances, strong people and butterflies. I dislike people who call me fat, because I'm not. I'm pleasantly plump and big boned." Those not within his line of sight rolled their eyes at that. "I don't like lizards, people who poison food, bullies and to spar with my friends, since I don't like to hurt them."

'Oh great, that's going to take some effort to get out of him.' Asuma thought when he heard the last part. Naruto couldn't help but be reminded how Hinata was before he managed to get her to spar with full force.

"My dreams are to become a world renowned cook and a role model for people with weight problems. And also to try every dish there is. My plans for the future are to get better with using my clan's abilities and protect my friends whenever I can."

"Good plans. Next up is you, Ino." Asuma said.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka, daughter of Inoichi Yamanaka, head of our clan. I like flowers, fashion, a certain boy, pudding and psychology. I dislike people who don't take care of themselves, stupidity, perverts, slackers and indecisive people. I also don't like raw food.

My hobbies are shopping, reading magazines, gardening and learning more about the human psyche. My dreams are to become a deadly kunoichi and be known as the sexiest woman alive."

"You'll never get _there_, Ino-pig." Sakura mocked.

"Bite me, billboard-brow! Your chances of getting there are way, way lower than mine anyway." Ino bit back.

"Girls!" Kurenai chided sternly.

Rubbing her arm and smiling apologetically, Ino continued. "Sorry. Anyway, my plans for the future are to learn and improve in whatever way I can as well as become so attractive that I can dazzle enemies into submission with my beauty, or at least distract them long enough to take them down."

"Also not happening." Sakura muttered, but loud enough for Ino to hear. Ino growled at Sakura who simply stuck out her tongue in response.

"Enough already!" Kurenai ordered, not pleased with the behavior of the two. The other merely rolled their eyes at the bickering. "You're up, Sasuke."

In his usual moody tone, the last active Uchiha spoke. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha, son of... Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha. My likes are few and my dislikes many. You'll find them out in due time. My hobbies are training and going on walks, contemplating..."

"Brooding, teme." Naruto interjected.

"Shut it, dobe! Like I was saying, my hobbies also include contemplating things and fighting strong opponents. My dream... is not a dream but a certainty, and that is to kill a certain person for his crimes against my family. My plans for the future are to become strong enough to accomplish any mission and all my goals as well as restore my clan."

"U-huh. Next." Kakashi said indifferently. This made for a humorous contrast to the rather dramatic speech the broody Uchiha held.

"I'm Sakura Haruno." Sakura introduced happily. "I like flowers, trivia games, books, and..." She glances at Sasuke, which he ignored. Unperturbed, Sakura resumes. "and sweet or salty food. I dislike anything bitter or spicy, annoying people, perverts, ignorant people and pigs."

She said the last part while giving an unmistakably pointed look at Ino, who bristled but kept quiet, to her credit.

"My hobbies include playing trivia games, reading books and learning in general. I also enjoy shopping and going to the hot-springs. My dreams are to become a respected kunoichi and earn enough honor and respect for my clan to make them a great clan. I also have a dream to marry the man I love and live in a happy family. My plans for the future are to find what my strong points are and through them make me a ninja to be reckoned with."

"Very nice. Lastly, we have Naruto." Asuma nodded in said boy's direction.

"Yo, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He started off with much enthusiasm. "I like ramen, Yokai-sensei, twisting and twirly stuff, plants, shadows, the color orange, sunrises and sunsets and many more things. I dislike bullies, evil people, the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook, anyone who wants to harm my friends or Konoha and other stuff I can't think of right now."

"You can think, dobe?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"Way more than you can, broody bastard." Naruto returned without missing a beat. "My hobbies include pulling pranks, watering my plants, training and eating ramen. My dream is to become the greatest Hokage ever as well as the ninja that will make enemy shinobi fear the dark. My plans for the future is to master the ways of stealth, seals and ninjutsu, not to mention be good enough in all aspects of the ninja that my enemies will have at least a tough time to keep up."

Nodding in approval, the senseis were happy to know that the bunch were dedicated and not living in a fairy tale world, or at least weren't behaving in any way that would compromise their ability to perform their ninja duties.

Asuma started off the project. "As everyone here knows, this way of forming teams, and train them, is a novelty. And you are the pioneers of this new method. However, what I am about to say may shock some, if not all of you." He said with a pointed look.

"It will be up to all of you, as a group and individually, to work to make sure this will prove to be a successful method."

As predicted, this did shock the group. Though Shikamaru and Shino were not too surprised. Shikamaru already deduced as much during the week. Shino didn't think about it during the week so he was not prepared for that statement. But once he heard it, he only needed a brief moment to realize why that was and agree with the logic.

"But, Asuma-sensei... wouldn't it be on you three too, since you are our teachers?" Sakura asked, confusion, and some apprehension, written on her face.

Kurenai chose to answer. "We are indeed your teachers and immediate leaders. But we are merely the shaft and fletches of the arrow. You are the arrow's head. We bring the guidance and flight capability of this endeavor. But the critical part of any arrow, the point that penetrates a target and brings about the culmination of an arrow's purpose, is the arrowhead, of which you all are."

Kakashi took over. "And any arrowhead worth the archer's time, is pointed and sharp, to bring penetration and damage potential to the whole missile. We may teach you, instruct you, guide you and command you. In other words, we bring you to your ultimate purpose. Whether you are sharp and pointy enough to stick to the target and do damage as needed is upon you, because you are the ones training, learning and honing yourselves. Lots of the responsibility will lay with you to train and better yourselves on your downtime, not just the time spent with us three."

"But sensei, aren't you better in battle than we are right now?" Chouji voiced a question some of them had in mind.

Kurenai shook her head. "You're missing the point. While we, indeed, are the superior combatants out of all of us here in any battle involving you, us three, and an enemy with shinobi training, we will only fight them to protect you since you are not ready to face them, yet."

"When will we be considered as successfully hitting our target?" Shino asked, already knowing the answer but wanting the question asked and the answer given for those who haven't realized it yet.

"An excellent question. It ties in with the previous question in a way." Asuma responded. "While you are "sharpening" yourselves to the point the whole arrow is worthy to let fly, we have a dual purpose. One is to be your shield so to not allow you to die before your potential have at least been realized partially, i.e. you become Chunin. The other is to, as said, be your shafts. The shaft is not 'us', but our knowledge, our experience instilled into you for your use. The goal of this entire thing is to see whether this method is as good or even better than our traditional system we've had for several generations.

In short, you will be considered as a successful project; a sharp arrowhead placed upon our shaft and fletchings of experience hitting and sticking to the mark, the mark being Chunin level ninja. Not only that, but an efficient one as well, though that is somewhat secondary."

"What if we hit the mark but don't stick?" Kiba voiced in concern.

"You will be considered a partial success, but one that needs to iron out the kinks. An arrow that does damage but doesn't stick is only sharp but not pointy enough. If we consider you ready for the Chunin exams but you end up not getting to Chunin, it's basically we believe you're close to completing the project, but it turns out you still need work. A sharp but not pointy arrow."

"What if we're pointy but not sharp?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi chuckled. "Naruto, if you make it through to Chunin, the sticking factor if you will, you are automatically pointy, which symbolizes skill and precision expected from a Chunin. The sharpness comes from teamwork, which is necessary to even get to the point where you get the chance to get promoted. So, you can have great teamwork, but you can also be weak individually, which isn't Chunin material."

"What would determine us as failures?" Sasuke asked with a harder look than normal. 'No way am I going to let this fail, let alone be the cause of it.' He thought.

"A couple of things. First; number of Chunin exam attempts, your individual and team oriented skills displayed during the exams and finally, number of promotions from the group."

"What does that last part mean exactly?" Ino asked.

Kurenai answered. "It means that depending on the number of promotions in relation to how many in total there is in the group, the project may be decided as a failure or success. So, for instance, if less than half of you get promoted then it is an indication of a poor result while the opposite is a good result. But we believe that is, in reality, merely a factor in the decision making process rather than anything crucial. This is because the Chunin exams can be quite complicated in ways not directly intended."

"Complicated, not directly intended?" Shikamaru asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Sorry, Shikamaru. We are not at liberty to say anything about the exams in detail. Neither will you be, once you've had your first one, no matter if you become Chunin or stay Genin." Asuma replied.

"Ano... I have a question." Hinata shyly said, raising her hand politely.

"Yes, Hinata?" Kurenai said with a smile at her favorite Genin.

"Ano... who is the archer?"

"It's the Hokage. He's the one directing you to strike at the target through his aim." Asuma said.

"Oh." Hinata said in understanding.

"Any more questions before we start with the training?"

"Yeah, a few of us are part timers in a new branch of the shinobi forces. How will this affect us here?" Sasuke asked.

"Not much really. You will train there and learn new skills just like here. What you will have to do, however, is incorporate your new skills into the team dynamics to the best of your abilities." Kakashi said.

"I will be a permanent member of that branch. I will, unfortunately, not be part of this group due to that." Shino informed.

"Actually, Shino," Naruto began. "You will be like a part timer, but more focused on the new branch than any of us, save me. You will have need of teamwork exercises and you will have some down time as well and you will most likely want to spend both those times with us, am I right?"

Shino looked at Naruto and after a second's consideration nodded. "You are correct in your assumption, Naruto-san."

"Then let's get started!" Asuma said, clasping his hands. "To start with, we will have one big group exercise to see where you stand in endurance."

That day was then spent with the three Jonin, testing their current limits of endurance, strength and speed. Chouji came first in terms of raw strength and endurance in terms of punishment, Kiba with sprinting speed, Naruto with endurance in terms of prolonged strain as well as reflexes with Sasuke coming a close second in that regard. All others were average.

As time passed, the group learned less than what they expected. They believed they would learn jutsus, even if they were basic. Instead, however, they learned the tree walking skill, which took a wide range of time for the group members to finally get the hang of. Naruto took the longest due to him having large pool to draw from. This in turn was due to being the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi as well as being an Uzumaki, though no one, not even Naruto, were told the second part was a contributing factor.

Still, Naruto put in an admirable effort and was rewarded with not only gaining the skill, but due to his creative mind could already think of ways to utilize this new feat of control to perform pranks and make, for a newly minted Genin, intricate plans of attack in their occasional simulations. The others took a liking to his creativeness and adopted said tactics, when possible, to their own repertoire of moves. This meaning plans not requiring Kage Bunshin.

This was not to say others like Sasuke, Shikamaru or even the soft-spoken but agile Hinata couldn't think of their own ways to have their strengths shine. All in all, everyone in the group found that there was not one of them that had nothing to contribute in terms of ideas or ability.

So far there was little in terms of the whole group performing one task in any simulations. They've instead been occasionally instructed to form groups of anywhere between 3 to 6 members, both with predetermined members and with members selected by the appointed group leader (when the teachers say they wont lead them). Or even simply selected through random selection. This was both to help develop the leadership sense of each individual that gets put in leading position, and instill respect and submissiveness to authority despite it being a friend in the subordinates. In Kiba's case, it was also a way to rid him of his instinctive reflex of challenging authority and questioning decisions more than half the time. It was a real headache for most.

At times, members were put together completely at random through random means, like spinning a plate with an indicating stick. And then the group is told to, with a given task in mind, come to the conclusion which one of them should be leader and give as detailed and sensible reasons as possible.

The tasks put forward in the simulations were simple and not very challenging, but the teachers constantly said "Baby steps". Naruto grumbled that they were anything but babies, which garnered chuckles or grumbles of agreement from any of the Genin who heard it.

To the teachers, the project already looked very promising if what they've witnessed so far was anything to go by. There was only one issue that Asuma brought forth in one of their meetings.

"What's got your fumes in a twist, Asuma?" Kakashi asked, seemingly uncaring as he read his treasured book. The two other Jonin knew better, although Kurenai can't help the miffed expression from knowing what Kakashi was reading.

Looking at Kakashi and Kurenai for a moment, he spoke his mind. "Don't you feel as if things are going too smoothly?"

"The Genin are learning and improving at a good rate. Fast but not too fast, some a bit slow in certain areas, but not too slow. Overall things are going great." Kurenai responded.

"That's not what I mean, Kurenai. I mean, perhaps the first group of this new system isn't the best representatives of an average group, which we are supposed to set the standard after once they've made Chunin."

"Oh?" Kakashi said, looking away from the book and at Asuma. "What makes you think they are such a poor example of an average group?"

"Think about it. They are a tightly knit group that have known each other for years. Since the Academy's start to be precise, some even before that. The main purpose of the project is to see whether a group of different individuals can work together like this. I think it's supposed to mean those that don't know each other very well are also supposed to perform after expectations. But can that be done? That question can't really be answered with this group and the project might be misleading in its results."

Looking at one another, Kurenai and Kakashi were seriously considering his words, although Kakashi was still showing nothing but his aggravatingly uncaring look.

"You might be right, Asuma." Kakashi said, with a shrug. The way he seemingly dismissed his statement almost caused Asuma to let Kakashi have it, but the man continued. "But the fact is, we're supposed to see whether it is at all possible. If it is a plausible means of grooming our budding ninja. If it is successful, regardless of your concerns in the matter, it will show it is worthy to employ in future generations."

"But..." Asuma began.

"I know what you both are saying." Kurenai spoke, still in a thoughtful pose. "Asuma's concerns are valid. But it is not up to us to question that, just to do our job the best we can. Which will be the duty of future senseis as well, and if they are worthy of their ranks, they will shape any group put together into a cohesive force to fear."

Both men nodded in agreement, but knew more was coming from the way she worded her input.

"And Kakashi has a point as well, though I believe that any help we can think of, even if it's outside the boundaries of our duty, would help push this along even further."

"Do you have an idea about that Kurenai, since you mentioned it?" Asuma asked with a knowing smirk.

Smiling back, she replied. "I do, what if we propose a change in the Academy to allow students to at least get used to the idea of the system so they can prepare for it and not hinder it needlessly from ignorance?"

"An excellent proposal indeed." Came a voice from the door to the Jonin lounge, which the three of them were in. Looking to face the familiar voice, their gazes fell upon their leader.

"Hokage-sama!" The three stood to attention and bowed as one.

"At ease, I'm intruding in the lounge rather then send for you, so no need to act so stiffly." Hiruzen dismissed with a chuckle. "Now then, it has already been brought to my attention that the Academy could do with some changes, and this change you are proposing is a sound one, especially if the new team formation system is taken into effect. That will, however, not be implemented until their success is confirmed."

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow in question. "You are certain that they will succeed, Lord Hokage?"

"Come now, Kakashi." The eldest Sarutobi present smiled. "Do you honestly think that I wouldn't keep abreast of how they are progressing? What kind of leader would I be if I did not? And they are already showing such promise I have no doubt they will go far in a relatively short time."

"And yet, your son brings forth a valid argument." Came the voice of Danzo, as he, too, entered the lounge from another door.

"And that issue has already been addressed, Danzo. No need to delve any deeper into that subject." The Hokage said in an offhanded manner. The Jonin could tell Hiruzen did not feel like dealing with the warhawk right now, not that he ever did want to.

An almost silent scoff came from Danzo. "Is that what you think, Hiruzen?

"I don't think it, Danzo. I know it is." He replied, before turning to his once-friend and said further. "Or are you insinuating something you shouldn't?"

The warning was clear as day, but Danzo went on, undaunted. "No insinuation intended, Hokage-sama. But you may have overlooked a few things in your optimism of your 'brainchild'."

"What are you talking about, Danzo?" Hiruzen asked with an minutely impatient tone.

"He's talking about the flaws of the new project." Came the voice of Homura, Koharu by his side as always. If anyone in the village didn't know better, they'd think the two old timers were married.

As the two walked in, Kakashi sardonically thought, 'Looks like the Jonin lounge has been converted to a pseudo-council room.'

Koharu spoke up once they had taken taken a seat to rest their old bones. "The progress of the Genin in the project group is unsatisfactory, Hiruzen. They should have doubled their progress amount by now."

"With all due respect, elder Koharu. What do you know? This is an entirely new venture and you have no experience of this kind and have no insight into the Genin yourselves. We do, and we think they are doing better than expected. All you see is results on paper and you deem it less than satisfactory purely arbitrarily." Kurenai spoke, her displeasure with their assessment visible.

"She is correct, Koharu. On what grounds do you claim their progress to be insufficient?" The Sandaime asked with a narrowed gaze, while puffing his treasured pipe.

"We are not so foolish as to... arbitrarily judge the Genin, and thus the project. We have sought out different opinions from leading teachers and experienced Jonin to get as accurate a picture of the whole thing." Homura defended.

'Meaning individuals who would go so far as to discredit it in order to further their own goals or even because Naruto is in it.' Asuma thought angrily.

"We have consulted with elite tutor Ebisu, among others, and he has said that..." Danzo began but was interrupted by the Third.

"Hold it there, Danzo! You went to a Jonin tutor who has been relegated to gate guarding duty for the past month, due to neglecting his duties as a tutor I might add, and has not any insight whatsoever in what is going on? And you expect me to accept his word, regardless of what he said, over that of my Jonin that are in a perfect position to give accurate accounts of the Genins' progress?"

"Be that as it may, he has more experience than any other of his generation in the tutoring of Genin." Danzo defended.

"Save for Iruka." Said Kakashi neutrally.

"Excuse me?" Koharu said.

"Iruka would be in a perfect position to give you accurate description of the Genin as they were when they left the Academy and has actively taught many students at once, as opposed to Ebisu's focused tutoring on one to three individuals."

"He might be biased." Koharu said with contempt.

"Why?" Kakashi asked.

"Excuse me?"

Groaning in frustration, Kakashi spoke louder. "I asked; 'why'?"

"I'm not deaf, Hatake." Koharu said indignantly.

"Then don't act like you have trouble hearing." Hiruzen said in Kakashi's defense, stunning her a bit from the chiding of her former teammate.

Regaining her composure, she proceeded to say, "Iruka, as an academy teacher, is prone to get attached to his charges and give biased accounts of each student's skills and grades. He has even admitted that he has had favorite students from time to time, a direct result of being biased."

"I call bullshit on that." Asuma spoke.

"Asuma." Hiruzen admonished his son.

"No, father. It's nothing but hogwash." He hotly returned before returning his hardened gaze at the elders once again. "Iruka is a fair teacher and has disciplined his students as necessary when they are out of line or lag behind. I have seen it from time to time when I visit the academy to get a feel for the students, since some of them might end up under my command in the future. Heck, he has even admitted that he favors Naruto Uzumaki as a student, despite him not being a model student. And yet he is strict, despite his favoring of certain students. It went as far as him failing Naruto despite the fact he had loads of skills and strengths to balance out his lacking ability to perform the basic clone jutsu. Most teachers in such a position would make exceptions, and I'd be honest to say that I would indeed make an exception. He didn't, thus failing his prized student. Biased my..."

"Asuma." Hiruzen ended his son's angry rant before it spiraled out of hand. "You have made your point clear enough. And I stand behind your arguments, son. You three clearly haven't grasped the situation nor the individuals involved and still fully believe you can have a say in things." He spoke to the three elders with a displeased face. "If this continues, I will have no choice but to dismiss you from your duties due to senility."

"Hiruzen! You cannot do that!" Homura hotly protested.

"He is the Hokage! He can very much do so. Or have you indeed become senile?" Asuma defended his father.

"Silence, you impudent upstart!" Koharu demanded crossly.

"Enough!" Danzo of all people declared, beating the Hokage to the verbal lashing of the old woman for disrespecting his son. "This bickering is pointless. Hiruzen is well within his rights to retire us if you don't show more respect to his rank."

"But it was his son that..."

"Quiet! Are you so daft as to lower yourself to the level of a child? Act like the elder you're supposed to be, damn it!" Danzo ordered. The two elders acquiesced as they clammed up and stepped slightly behind Danzo.

"Hiru... Hokage-sama. We may have been too hasty in our evaluation, we shall leave the matter be, for the time being." Danzo said before turning and leaving, accompanied by his fellow elders and the sound of his cane tapping the floor.

'Nice ploy, Danzo. Making Homura and Koharu take the heat and then retreat when things go bad, all the while sounding like a professional elder.' The aged leader thought. 'But you are foolish if you think I can't see through the act.'

"Well, that went alright." Kakashi chirped with an eye-smile.

Shaking her head, Kurenai added. "But they will rear their heads up as soon as they believe they have dirt to throw."

"You ought to retire them right now, dad."

"Maybe. But if I do that without reason, I will get political backlash since they are chosen by the people."

'Who keep them in power since they don't like Naruto.' All present added in their minds.

"I suppose I should get back to work, and return your lounge to you." Hiruzen said with a smirk.

"Yeah, about time..." Kakashi murmured. He was mainly referring to the elders being there and arguing in what was supposed to be their place of standby between missions and teachings.

"Did you say something, Kakashi?" Hiruzen said with a smile but an ominous shadow over his face.

"I said it's about time, as in time for meeting the Genin for the day." He replied smoothly.

"Hmm, very well. Get to it then." The Hokage said before exiting fully.

Kurenai giggled lightly. "You dodged a shuriken there, Kakashi."

"I don't know how you do it, but you can keep cool in the most dangerous situations, what's your secret?" Asuma asked.

Reading that book of his, Kakashi took a moment before "realizing" that he was being spoken to. "Hmm? I'm sorry, did you say something, Asuma?"


End file.
